Tale of the Nine Destined
by Sorceress of Memories
Summary: Breath of Fire, Kingdom Hearts and Final Fantasy crossover. Set in AU Alternate universe world...the lives of four normal school friends are forever changed when a dragon attacks their home in Wyndia. Rated for violence and language. SoraKairi. ZidaneGarn
1. 1 Kairi's birthday

**Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasy or Breath of Fire. KH and FF belong to Square-Enix while BOF belongs to Capcom. I also don't own GCSEs, as they belong to the British Labour Government, I think. **

**Now, before I go on with the fanfic, I would like to point out that this story has FF, KH and BOF characters in it but I decided to put this in the BOF section because people are more likely to read it if I did (as most people have never played BOF). Anyway, I'll stop blabbering! On with the fic!**

He stood there, gazing at the chocolates behind the glass window. He could see that there were various types – caramel, mint, fudge, strawberry. They all made him look hungry….

But the spikey-haired boy in the white shirt and the blue shorts knew that the chocolates were not for him. It was Kairi's birthday today – she was now fifteen. What would a girl at fifteen want?

The trouble was, he only found out about her birthday this morning, which was why he was here. How could he forget Kairi's birthday like that? He had known her since he was little! The boy stamped his foot and started to curse.

Chocolates would seem an appropriate present – but he did not know what type of chocolate that she specifically liked. The boy made several more curses as he stared at the boxes.

"Are you all right, young man?"

A lady was standing right next to the boy. She was a small woman, in her eighties, peering up at him and wearing an apron.

"Uh….nothing," replied the boy.

The old smiled kindly at him. "So, you like my chocolates then, do you boy?"

"Um….they're not for me," the boy replied awkwardly. "It's my friend's birthday."

"Oh, I see……" she said thoughtfully. "You seem to have a difficult time deciding."

"I….don't know which chocolates she likes."

"You don't know which she likes, then?" the shopkeeper began to chuckle heartedly. The boy smiled at her, embarrassed at the whole situation.

"Well…..maybe you shouldn't give her chocolates then," the woman said in an advising tone.

"…maybe," the boy answered thoughtfully "but what else could I get her?"

Just then, cries were heard in the street. Not the normal cries that you would here when people were buying and selling, but cries of terror and fear. The boy turned around to see some people running around the streets. Far away, explosions could be heard. What was going on?

The boy and the old woman stood still for a moment. The woman then floated a few metres off the ground with her white wings. She gazed at the sky for a few seconds, turned white and then returned to the ground.

"What's wrong?" the boy asked, anxious.

"Something…..in the sky…."

The boy walked around the building. He could not fly, as he did not have wings, unlike many of the citizens of the city of Wyndia. The boy soon realised what was wrong.

The streets were on fire. The Wyndian citizens were running about, trying to find safety. The boy stared in shock what was going on. What happened and why?

He could hear screams and shouts of "A demon from the sky!" from some of the frightened citizens. The boy looked up and could not believe his eyes….

It was about the size of a human, and in the shape of a human as well – or at least, it had the head and torso of a human. It had red legs, with scales and claws at the feet. Finally, it had long hair, with horns sticking out at the sides of its head and wings sprouting out of its back. The boy gasped and started to look around. He had to get out of here, fast. Would he be able to escape? Would he make it back to the castle? Would the monster go for the castle? If so, then he would need to warn Kairi and the others. Would Kairi be able to escape? Would Riku and Nina be able to protect her? Would Riku and Nina be able to get out as well? All these questions were running through the boy's head as he started to run. He had to run back to the castle – it was the only thing he could think of.

The boy did not get there, though. He suddenly found himself sliding and then stopping, as the creature landed right in front of him. The boy then fell back in shock and the monster glared at him with menacing eyes. Certain that he was a goner, the boy closed his eyes.

Just then, something made him open them again…his hand….something was happening to his right hand…a bright light suddenly surrounded the boy, which made him float. This light….what was it? Whatever it was, the boy was not scared of it. It seemed to give him courage and determination.

Suddenly, the boy descended to the ground. In his right hand was…..some sort of key. The boy had never seen this key before or how it got in his hand. However, he knew one thing…..in his heart, he knew that this key could help him fend off the monster.

The creature stared at the boy….this time in shock, instead of a glare. The boy got up and stood facing the creature, holding his key, ready to attack. The monster positioned itself in what the boy thought would be an attack stance.

The boy was the first to attack . He took a swipe at the creature, who dodged it. The monster counterattacked by swiping back. The boy rolled back and avoided the blow. The monster growled in frustration. The boy smirked at this. However, he stopped smirking when the monster suddenly stepped backwards. It floated upwards, eyes fixed on the boy, and moved it's arms and clawed lands as if it was casting a spell. Just then, a large reddish orange ball of energy appeared from the creature's clawed hands and then went straight at the boy, who could not dodge it in time. The boy yelled in pain and fell backwards. The monster floated upwards, ready to create another of those energy balls. At first, the boy was certain that he was a goner, but then something inside him told him not to give up.

Suddenly, a feeling of rage came into the boy. He was suddenly back on his feet and he charged at the creature, who was back on the ground. The creature was unable to dodge and cried out in pain as the boy had jumped up and slashed at it. The creature stepped back……it had a rather large cut across its torso. It growled with anger and then quickly took a swipe at the boy, giving him a huge cut on the leg. This time, it hurt so much that the boy could not get up, even though he tried.

The monster floated until it was less than metre over the boy's body. It was about to strike again, it's left arm raised in the air…..

If the monster succeeded, it would have surely ripped the boy's hear out. But the boy was too fast and he quickly slashed at the arm before it could even touch him. The creature howled again. It was a great wound – even greater than the one on the torso.

The creature stepped back……it looked around. What is it doing? The boy wondered. Is it going to attack the other townspeople?

The creature then floated into the air once more………and flew off…..

* * *

"Hey, you all right, kid?"

He could see shapes…..his eyes were not completely focused…

The boy rubbed his eyes with left hand. His right hand felt the hard and stubbled pavement of the Wyndian street. He must have fainted. People had gathered around him, looking at him with concern. The boy attempted to get up….but he could not. His right leg had was throbbing with pain.

"It's all right, dear…don't push yourself."

The old woman was here. She held the boy's injured leg up with her right hand and had a bandage in her left hand.

"Uh….thank you," the boy said politely.

"No, thank you," the old woman replied.

"You saved us from that demon!" a man in the crowd shouted.

The monster before….so it was certainly not a dream.

"Where did it go?" the boy asked, still slightly dazed.

"It flew away!" another person said. "It was so badly beat I guess it gave up!"

"To beat something like that, you sure are something!"

The boy smiled, embarrassed. He could not escape the crowd. He was patted on the back, told by many people that "You are amazing!", "How did you do that?" and "I am in your debt!" It was strange…how he managed to fight a creature so fearsome and dangerous and how this key magically appeared from nowhere and saved his life.

The boy was feeling better. Since he had a bandage on his right leg and had healed himself with all his Cure spells, he could now get up and walk around – although his right leg still hurt.

* * *

He had been invited to the jewellery shop. The owner of the shop was one of the people who had witnessed the fight and wanted to take him to the shop as a reward.

Walking into the shop, he was amazed at what he saw. The room of the shop was small, but so magnificent. The ceiling was painted dark blue and hanging from it were rows and rows of glass stars. The tables in the shop were covered with pink, blue, green, purple and golden cloths and on each table were various stands, containing all sorts of accessories – watches, necklaces, rings, brooches, containing all sorts of pretty stones – moonstone, sapphire, diamonds. I could so take Kairi to this place, the boy thought.

"Well, it's quite a wonder, isn't it?" the old woman said behind him. She had followed the boy and the jeweller to the shop.

"Yeah…" the boy answered, not really listening, as he was still fascinated by the atmosphere around him.

The jeweller went behind the counter and put his hands on the table. "Well, have a look at what you want, kid!" he said in a rather friendly way.

The boy examined the room, admiring at what he saw. Just then, something had caught his eye. On the table nearest to him, on a white stand, was a golden necklace – in fact it, it was a locket. A gold, heart-shaped locket with a sapphire in the middle. Although it looked really simple, he knew that Kairi would love it the moment she saw it. He could imagine her putting it on, gazing at it in the mirror and then heading off to whatever she had to do, whether it was lessons or going out with her friends.

"Well, do you want it?"

The boy jumped. He completely forgot that he was not the only person in the room.

"Sorry? What did you guys say?"

"Do you want it?" the jeweller asked, in a friendly manner.

"It's 5000 gold coins….I don't have enough."

"Take it for 500," the man suggested. "You had risked your life to save us….who knows what would have happened if you weren't there!"

The boy looked at the locket longingly. He needed a present for Kairi anyway, and what could be a better idea than this? The boy paid 500 out of the 1000 coins he had, thanked the man and headed towards the door. Before he went outside, though, the woman stopped him.

"Are you sure you don't need help walking home?" she asked.

"I'm fine. Thanks, anyway…uh…."

"Mrs Hardow."

"Well, thanks, Mrs Hardow. For your help."

"That's all right, young man. You take care of yourself."

The boy was about to leave but he turned back towards the woman.

"I'll be alright, Mrs Hardow. And by the way, my name's Sora."

* * *

The Castle of Wyndia. Home to Harold XII of Wyndia. It was rather a large castle with tall towers and sturdy brick walls which stood on the edge of the cliff, which looked out to the sea.

It was also Sora's home, or at least his current home. It was his shelter – the place where he had been staying for three years, ever since he was forced to leave his hometown.

Sora plodded up the tall steps, exhausted. His leg was still sore from the fight with the dragon, even though the kind old lady had used a bandage and he had made the effort to help himself by casting a Cure spell.

"Sora! Are you okay?"

A young girl with red hair came running through the gates in her blue dress. She was about Sora's age – fifteen and rather short for her age. Like Sora, she did not have white wings to fly with. Her auburn hair flowed down to her shoulders and she gazed at Sora with her dark blue eyes.

"Kairi!" Sora breathed with a sigh of relief.

"Oh, Sora……I am so glad you are safe!" the girl exclaimed in a rather worried tone. "We were so worried about you!"

Sora smiled a little. "Don't worry, I will be okay," he assured her.

"That's good to hear" Kairi replied, laughing. Her smile faded though when she saw his leg.

"Oh….that…." Sora glanced at his leg. It did not hurt much but it looked like he should not go out again today. Kairi helped him into through the main entrance of the castle. She then noticed the key in his right hand.

"Hey, Sora…..what's that?"

"Huh?"

"That key……how did you get it?"

Sora glanced at his strange key….the one that helped him fend off the creature. The weapon that had saved his life. He had absolutely no idea how it came into his hand.

* * *

Sora felt better when he was taken to a small room with a large crackling fire. His leg still felt sore, but it was not broken. The doctor assured him that he should be able to go out the next day. It was just as well, as Sora had school the following day anyway as well as his exam results.

He sat down on the large sofa nearest to the fire, in front of the small square table. Sitting on the chair on the other side of the table was a boy slightly older than him – no wings either. The boy was wearing some yellow sleeveless shirt with some sort of blue baggy trousers. His silver coloured hair went down to his shoulders. The boy was looking at Sora, who had a deck of cards in his hand.

"Well, aren't you gonna go, Sora?"

"Yeah….sorry…uh…..two Aces."

Sora then took his two Aces out of his pack and placed them on the table and then waited for his friend to take his turn.

The silver haired boy paused for a second and then spoke. "Did you get Kairi her present yet?"

"Yeah," Sora replied. He took out the necklace from his pocket.

"Huh…what's that?" the boy examined it closely. "Wow…..it's a locket…"

"Yep." Sora smiled, feeling very pleased with himself.

The boy stared at the locket for a few minutes and laughed. "She'll really like that! It's real pretty. Who knows….she might put _your_ picture in it!"

Sora's smile then faded. "What is THAT supposed to mean, Riku?" he asked, angrily.

"Hey, I'm kidding!" Riku protested. "Why do you have to take me seriously every time I mention something like that?"

Just then, the door to the living room opened and a young girl came in. She was a little taller than Riku – rather tall for her age, anyway. The girl's long golden hair went down to her waist. She had a long green dress with a girdle and her wings werelarge and snowy white.

"Hey, boys! What are you fighting about now?" she asked in a rather cheerful way.

"Nothing Nina," Riku answered, still smirking. "It's just that Sora can't take a joke." Sora glared at his friend.

Nina sighed and laughed a little bit. Riku usually liked to tease his friends. Usually, Sora would laugh as well, but not when it was about Kairi. She then sat down in another chair and pulled it over to the table to watch what the boys were doing.

"Are you okay, Sora?" she asked, concerned.

"I'm FINE!" Sora answered quickly, in an irritated tone.

"No, not about that, I mean about earlier today.."

"Oh, about that? Sorry…..yeah, I'm okay…..I'll be better tomorrow."

Nina sighed with relief.

Riku then took out a Five of Diamonds and declared "One Three" before placing it on the pile.

Afterwards, Sora took out a Seven and a Nine and yelled "Two Jacks!"

"Bullshit," Riku said.

"Aww…man….I forgot I used my other three Jacks already," Sora moaned before grudgingly taking the ten cards that were used on the pile.

Nina smiled happily, before asking "So…..have you got Kairi her present yet, Sora?"

"Yeah…" Sora turned to her and showed Nina the locket.

"Wow…it looks really pretty, Sora!" Nina said with enthusiasm. "And it's a heart-shaped one as well!" She then giggled at this thought.

Riku won the game, much to Sora's dismay. "Oh come on, it's only a game!" Nina exclaimed. She had known Sora for three years – well enough to know his character. She knew that although both Sora and Riku were great friends – but also great rivals as well. They had competed with each other in almost everything.

Finally, Kairi came in. She had paid a visit to the king who had given her his present, so she could not go and see Sora straight away.

"Hey, guys!" she said, smiling.

"Kairi! Happy Birthday!" Nina exclaimed. "What did Father give you?"

Kairi held up a box. It was a small box, made out of red wood. The top of the box was decorated with a picture of a wooden house surrounded by trees with birds flying in the sky.

"Oh wow, it looks really adorable!" Nina said in awe.

"That was what I was going to say," Kairi said before giggling. "Your dad is really generous, Nina."

"It's a good place to put in that little locket," Riku whispered in Sora's ear.

After they talked about the box for a few minutes, the others decided they should show their presents to Kairi.

"Here's mine," Nina declared. She held up a purple silk ribbon.

"A ribbon!" Kairi exclaimed. "Oh wow, it looks really pretty! And it's purple, my favourite colour!" She then grabbed a portion of her hair at the top and tied it together with her ribbon. She looks really beautiful in that, Sora said to himself quietly.

"You know, that suits you," Riku said.

"I agree," Nina added before saying. "Even Sora really likes it, even though he hasn't said anything about it yet, but you can tell." Nina then started to chuckle slightly. She also liked to tease Sora when she could. Sora looked a little hurt. "Well, I'm really glad you like it," Nina then said. "Riku, do you have anything to give her?"

"Of course I do," Riku declared before then handing a parcel over to Kairi. "Happy Birthday, Kairi." Kairi then took the parcel and opened it with wonder. Her face of curiosity then turned to a smile.

"Oh, Riku, it's wonderful! And it has all of us"

The present was a small little picture frame, with a photograph inside. Photographs were rare in Wyndia, as cameras were expensive, but the king had a few around in his castle. The photo was a picture of all of them together – Sora, Nina, Kairi and Riku sitting together on a few boxes at a dock, watching the ships come in.

"Was this the picture taken six months ago?" Kairi asked.

"Yeah," Riku answered. "On our holiday in Luca."

Kairi smiled, giggled and then hugged Riku. "Thanks, Riku. I'll treasure this!"

"Remember when we got tickets to the blitzball stadium?" Nina asked the others, reminiscing their time at Luca.

"And Kairi thought she lost her ticket!" Riku exclaimed, which made Kairi giggle.

"And the I found that it was in my pocket all the time!" Kairi added before laughing again. "I am so absent minded!"

They laughed some more before was time for Sora to hand his present. Sora slowly put his hand into his pocket and drew out the little heart-shaped locket with the diamond in the centre.

Kairi took the necklace and studied it for a few minutes. Her friends watched, a little tense. Sora started to get avery worried – did she like it after all?

Kairi eventually took a deep breath. "…….it's……beautiful, Sora…" she said quietly. "I…..really like it…"

Nina breathed a sigh of relief. "Why don't you try it on?" she suggested. "It would look good with my ribbon."

Kairi tied the necklace around her neck, with Nina's help. "Oh, and here's the key," Sora said rather clumsily handing the tiny golden key to her.

"Thanks, Sora," Kairi said. "Are you blushing?"

"W-what?" Sora stammered.

His friends started to laugh.

* * *

"I would like to make a little speech if I may."

King Harold XII of Wyndia then stood up at the little round table that he, his daughter and heir to the throne Princess Nina, Riku, Sora and Kairi sat at. Sora, Riku and Kairi were not related to the king or his daughter, and they certainly had no noble or royal blood in them, but they had been living at the castle for quite a while now, and the king had looked after them as if they were his own children, so they were very much like family. They ate in the afternoon room at dinner, as they

Nina turned red and her friends looked at her with sorry faces. The king loved to make speeches. His speeches could go on for hours, on a bad day. Nina remained in her seat with her red face. Kairi tried to carry on eating her meal. Sora had just managed to prevent himself from yawning after a kick from Riku.

"Although it will be a little one, as Sora looks a little tired," the king chuckled.

Sora looked up at the king, also turning red but the king smiled at him warmly. The king then continued.

"Now, all I want to do is wish Kairi a happy fifteenth birthday. She and Sora have only been living with us for about two years, but we welcome them both, as well as Riku, as if they were our own family."

Kairi giggled a little. Although she did not like most of the king's speeches, this one seemed to touch her a little bit.

"Anyway, fifteen may not seem much, but it is rather a leap into the next stage of life."

Kairi was less touched by this part of the speech. It was sounding like a doting speech from a parent who was showing off to other parents on how much their little darlings were growing.

"She will be taking her General Secondary exams next year. And I wish her good luck to those. And good luck in the future."

The king then proposed a toast, which everyone joined and he finally (to everybody's relief) sat down. Afterwards, he leaned across the table to Kairi and said, "I hope you are enjoying yourself, my dear."

"Oh, I am, thank you, your Majesty," Kairi replied, gratefully.

"It is sad that your parents are not here to celebrate with us."

"No, your Majesty."

"Well, don't worry, when you do see them again, they will be so proud of you."

" 'When', your Majesty?"

"There is still hope, child. Just because we have not heard from them, it does not mean that they are not still alive and thinking about you."

* * *

The king had to leave the table early in order to deal with the damage that the monster earlier had done to the city. He was busy with all of it for most of the day, but he managed to take half an hour off in order to spend some time with his family and a few minutes to give Kairi her present.

The four teenagers sat in silence. Nina was the only person who still had to eat the rest of her food. Kairi was the first to speak.

"Guys," she began. "The king….he did say 'when', didn't he?"

"He did," Sora answered.

"Do you think….he could be right?"

"We don't know," Riku assured her. "But as he said, it doesn't mean that they're…"

"I know…" Kairi said, rather sadly.

Sora sat on his table, watching Kairi. He, Riku and Kairi did not originally come from Wyndia – which was why they did not have wings like most of the Wyndians. Sora and Kairi had come from the far away town of Parela. But three years ago, under mysterious circumstances, they both had to leave the town, along with their friends and family, and seek refuge in Wyndia. They had not heard anything from their town or their parents – not even a letter. However, they both hoped very strongly that they would one day return there and be reunited with their families. What bothered Sora though was Riku, who always seemed really confident and certain that he would see his home and his parents again, but was in worse circumstances than Kairi and Sora were. Riku came from the small village of Takerin, a village which was somewhere in the country of Suveria. However, he came to Wyndia seven years ago, at the age of nine, and in those seven years he had not heard a word from his family or his village either. On the other hand, Sora thought, the Suverian Empire and the kingdom of Wyndia were not really on friendly terms, so it may have been difficult to pass messages, especially as Suveria was a long way awayas Parela was.

* * *

Sora had to go straight to bed after dinner so that he could recover for the next morning as he was going on a long journey to school the next day. He said goodnight to Kairi and was helped up to his bedroom by Nina and Riku. They had made it to the hallway.

"I'm amazed that you made it with only a few scratches!" Nina said, holding Sora's arm.

"Yeah….I am too.." Sora lied, deciding that it was not worth mentioning the other wounds that he had. Besides, those wounds had healed because of the potions that the lady gave him.

They carried walking down the corridors and then up a set of spiral stairs. It was diffcult getting Sora up these stairs, but they succeeded and they finally reached Sora's room.

"Are you sure that you will be okay to go to school tomorrow?" Riku asked, concerned.

"I'll be fine," Sora replied with a smile. "My leg hurts a little but I'll be able to walk properly tomorrow."

"Okay, just wondered. I'm going back downstairs, now. Night, Sora."

"Good night! See you tomorrow!" Nina called.

"Night, guys," Sora as he opened the door to his bedroom.

_To be continued….._

**Okay, I am sorry that the chapter was rather boring! But it gives some sort of background to the story. And we are already introduced to four of the main characters. Read and Review! Flames welcome – you never know when they could come handy in the cold and dreary country that I live in! Yes, I know there weren't any FF characters in this chapter – shut up. There will be in the next few chapters coming!**


	2. 2 The night mission

**Disclaimer: No I do not own the KH, BOF or FF. KH and FF belong to Square-Enix and BOF belongs to Capcom. I don't know why I have to keep repeating this. I don't own the names Galbadia or Treno, as they belong to Square-Enix as well. Although I do own Laura and Mr Argul. **

**Gosh…..no reviews yet? I'm sad….oh well, I'll update the fic anyway!**

**Oh, and I apologise for a mistake that I had not corrected in the previous chapter. I was going to include the GCSE exams (which I had not made up) in my fanfic, but decided not to and use General Secondary exams (which are supposed to be similar to GCSEs, except that I made up the name). I do apologise, everyone!**

Sora sat in the train, feeling gloomy. He was still tired and wanted to go back to sleep, but it was impossible for him. Not with the motions of the train.

He hated travelling. It always made him feel ill.

Nina, Riku and Kairi were in the same carriage as him. "Aren't you at least gonna have some breakfast?" Nina asked with worry.

"No thanks…..I'll have some later," Sora miserably replied. "Besides, I hate train food. Makes me feel even more ill."

He looked at his friends. Nina was reading a book, looking quite relaxed and content. Sora wished that he could look like that on a train. Riku had just abandoned his muffin to gaze out of the window. He did not much like train food either. Kairi fast asleep. She was tired after the previous night with her little dinner party. Looking at her, Sora noticed that she was wearing his necklace – she must have put it on this morning.

The train journey only took two hours – it had to leave the city of Wyndia and travel across the country to make it into the next country – the country of Galbadia. The train then had to travel a few miles to the city of Treno, where their school, the Sir Argul boarding school was. They had to leave early in the morning to get there, but as their school was a boarding school, they were not really returning to Wyndia for a few weeks.

* * *

Sora sat at his desk, bending down and fiddling with his hands in frustration. It was nine o'clock and the first lesson. They were missing Maths this morning, as Miss Trepe was going to give out the exam results. Kairi was giggling with Selphie and Rinoa, talking about her birthday, her dinner party and what presents that she got. As Kairi had only just turned fifteen, she was supposed to be in the year below, but she skipped a year because of her academic ability (although her Science was not really up to standard), which was good for Sora because that meant that he was in the same class as her. Nina and Riku were in the class above, so they were not present. However, it was likely that they would be getting their exam results as well. 

"Hey, Sora! How are you doin'?"

A blond boy with a black shirt and huge funny blue trousers had pulled up his chair right next to Sora.

"Oh, hi, Zell. How are you doing?" Sora asked, still fidgeting with his hands

"I'm great! The summer passes too quickly!" Zell sat back in his chair.

"Well, we had eight weeks."

"True, true…..you look really tense, Sora. Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. I'm cool." Sora lied.

"Don't worry. It's only school exams…….not like General Secondary exams or anything…"

That was true. Sora was only fifteen and did not have to do General Secondary until the next summer – unlike Riku and Nina, who had both turned sixteen in February and July, had just finished theirs and now had to move on to dreaded Higher Advanced exams. So, this would have been an advantage to Sora, but he did not feel like it was. Especially as he dreaded what grades that Riku was going to get…..

Eventually, Miss Trepe sat down at her desk and told everybody to be quiet. She smiled at them all and asked them about their holidays. Sora did tell her about that incident with the creature – nobody would believe him, anyway. He had not even told Kairi, Nina or Riku about the incident – but it had been on his mind since he went to bed the previous night. How did he gain that weapon and how was he able to drive the monster away? The guards of Wyndia could not defeat it, so why did he?

After Miss Trepe had finished talking about the holidays, she stood up.

"Right, class. I know you have been waiting for this moment."

Sora banged his head on the desk quietly. Miss Trepe walked around the desks, handing out the result papers. Sora could hear Kairi cry "Oh, wow! And that's for Science?" Kairi must have got a very good mark for Science – it was not her strong subject. Well, he was happy for her.

"Hey, look what I got – a D for History, man!" Sora could hear the laughs of Zenero, Benero or Genero from the other side of the room as he gave his two brothers high-fives. Sora could not tell, as Zenero, Benero and Genero were triplets and were identical in both looks and voice.

"Don't look miserable, Sora. You did really well."

Sora looked up to see Miss Trepe smiling at him. He nervously took his paper. Selphie giggled at the desk next to him. Sora chose to ignore it and looked the paper.

He was taking Maths, History, English, Science, English Literature, Art and Design Technology. As Sora examined his grades, he discovered that they were quite high. The Maths was an A, the second highest possible grade (the highest was an A). Sora was good at Maths. The History was also an A. The English was a B – spelling was somewhere that Sora failed. Science was A, but Riku was really good at science – and apparently the best in his class. English Literature was a B – this was a pretty good grade for Sora, as he was not keen on reading. Art was a B and Magical Arts was an A.

Sora was a bright student, and he knew it. However, that was not what worried him – he expected to get good results anyway, as he had in the previous years. What was _Riku_ going to get?

* * *

"Hey, Sora! How did you do?" 

Kairi walked sat down on the sofa opposite him, still wearing her locket. She giggled slightly. "Aww come on, don't look so depressed! Did you do _that _badly?"

Sora handed over his papers. Kairi read them for a few seconds and laughed again. "I don't why you are so moody, Sora! They're really good!"

Just then, Riku and Nina arrived. Sora and Kairi were in the boarder's common room, sitting on dull green sofas. Nina sat down on the sofa that Kairi was sitting on and Riku grabbed a chair.

"Hello!" Nina said happily. "How were the first two lessons?"

"I went toComputer Technology," Kairi answered before yawning. "Man, it was boring."

"I had to go to Science," Sora added. "Weren't much fun, either."

"Not much happened then," Riku stated blankly. "Anyway, how did you guys do in the exams?"

Sora did not answer.

"I got a B for Science!" Kairi shouted happily. "And that's my highest grade EVER for Science!"

"Wow, that's really good, Kairi!" Nina exclaimed. "Hey, Sora. Why do you look so down? Your grades weren't that bad, were they?"

"His grades were really good," Kairi said.

Sora handed over his paper, not really caring. Riku took it and read it carefully, with Nina looking over his shoulder.

"Hey, not bad, Sora," Riku then said, after a few minutes.

"He even beat my Maths General Secondary grade! And Riku's" Nina added.

"How about you guys do in your General Secondary?" Kairi asked. The General Secondary exams were the really important grades – vital if you had any hope of getting a decent-paid job. Staying at school to take Higher Advanced exams were optional, but they were important if you wanted to get a really good job. Riku and Nina had chosen to stay at school for that reason.

"Yeah, we did well," Riku replied as if it was completely expected.

"Hmmph! Show off!" Nina told him in a teasing way, even though it was true.

"Yeah, what _did_ you get, Riku?" Sora asked in a rather moody way.

Riku handed his paper over, knowing exactly what Sora meant before getting up from his seat to get a packet of crisps from the little kitchen in the corner of the common room (like a lot of boarders common rooms would have so that they could drink coffee and stuff like that at breaktimes). Sora examined Riku's paper and scowled. This was what he dreaded.

Riku gained a B for Maths, which was actually lower than Sora's. Sora smirked at this. Geography was an A, but Riku took Geography instead of History, so this did not matter. English was a B – the same. However, for English Literature, he gained an A – Sora stared at this with horror – Riku did as much book reading as Sora did – which was very little, yet he was able to get an A! However, the A English Literature grade was nothing, compared to the Science grade, which a double A. This was what made Sora feel really depressed. Information Technology was a B and Magical Arts was an A.

Despite the fact that most of the grades were similar to his and the fact that he got a higher mark than Riku in Maths, Sora still did not like what he saw, especially with the English Literature and the Science grades.

"Hey, just because he did really well, it doesn't mean that you won't do the same," Kairi said.

"And if it makes you feel better, I got a better grade than him at Magic arts!" Nina said, slightly proud of herself.

"Yeah, but you're good at magic, anyway," Sora moaned.

"I know," Nina replied, still smug. Nina loved to study magic. She was really interested in the great witches and wizards of the past, who cast powerful spells and went on adventures with several other companions – sometimes warriors, sometimes fellow wizards as well, exploring dungeons, finding lost treasure and slaying evil demons as well. Nina imagined herself as one of these wizards going on these adventures, but knew very well that for a future career, that was impossible – her future lay in Wyndia as Queen, and as Queen, there would be no time for exploring. However, this did not mean that she could not study magic at school – as a hobby. Unfortunately for them, by the time Riku came back with the crisps, the bell rang and break was over.

* * *

It was six o'clock in the evening in Treno. The sun had gone down and the sky was filled with stars. Riku, Sora and Kairi stepped out onto the dark streets of Treno. They planned to go out for a pizza to celebrate their exam results. 

Treno was a very beautiful city – with its ancient buildings and cobbled streets. It was a historical place as it had many museums. Museums were not really interesting to Kairi, Riku or Sora but there were also lots of places to eat as well, and shops, much to Kairi's advantage.

And so, Riku, Sora, Nina and Kairi walked along the streets. Sora had not problems walking. His leg still hurt a little bit, but not enough to stop him from spending a night out with his friends.

They finally got to Laura's Pizza Place. A pretty young red-haired girl in jeans appeared at the front of the doorway. She recognised the teenagers the moment she saw them and smiled.

"Sora! Kairi! Riku! And your Highness!" she exclaimed. "It's so good to see you again!"

"Hey, Laura!" Kairi exclaimed back. "It's great to see you too."

Laura laughed. "Well, I guess this is a table for four, then?" she asked in a cheerful manner.

"Yep. You're not full tonight, are you?" Riku said.

"No…only two others are coming. Come on, in!"

Laura's Pizza Place was a small restaurant. It consisted of Laura herself, the owner of the restaurant, her boyfriend Dave and her friends Jessica and Maria. Laura was a cheerful woman of nineteen. She left school at sixteen because she did not want to continue her work. Laura was a good cook and wanted to pursue her dream, which was to open a restaurant. She fulfilled her dream when she opened up her pizza restaurant two years ago. And her restaurant had been a success ever since it was opened. Laura knew Nina, Kairi, Riku and Sora because she used to work in the school kitchens after she left her own school. However, she found it very dreary and was only working there to save up enough to open her own restaurant. The four teenagers especially liked her restaurant because it made a change from school dinners.

Sora took the Bacon and Mushroom, while Riku took the Pepperoni, Nina decided to have a Ham and Pineapple for and Kairi wanted a plain Margaritta. As Kairi stared around the room, she noticed that the school headmaster was also present in the restaurant, sitting in a table with a strange blond haired woman in a red dress in the corner, not far away from where the three youths were sitting.

"Guys!" she whispered to Sora, Nina and Riku. When she had got their attention, she pointed to the headmaster.

Sora, Riku and Nina looked at the headmaster in surprise. They did not expect him to be here. They did not want him to be here either – as he scared them a little.

The headmaster, Jarves Argul, was originally from the Suverian Empire. The country of Galbadia had been conquered by the Suverian Empire a few hundred years ago and the Suverian Empire had refused to give up their control. However, the majority of the people of Galbadia had become used to being ruled from the Suverians. Although they were not independent, they still had a say in politics and the way that their country was run. Mr Argul was rumoured to be a very important man in the Empire – he did not appear at school very often except at important occasions such as ceremonies. Nobody knew exactly why he was important – even most of the teachers at his school did not know – Kairi had asked Miss Trepe herself. He spent most of his time at the Suverian Empire base in the centre of Treno. Mr Argul was a tall man. His hair was a long black colour, which went down to his shoulders, his eyes were a green colour – and always looked as if they were staring at you - and he always wore a long red and black robe.

Mr Argul was supposedly talking some strange business with his companion. They then headed towards the bathroom and stood outside the door, as Sora heard Mr Argul say "We must talk somewhere else, Scarlet."

Kairi then realised that she had smudged her lipstickand had to leave as well to sort it out.

While Kairi was correcting her mistake with the lipstick, she heard voices coming from outside. She recognised one voice as the Headmaster's.

"You know that this is private information, Javes."

"Which is why we are talking here, Scarlet."

"There is someone else in the ladies' bathroom, Jarves!"

"It's only one of my students, Kairi. She'll be out in a moment. Besides, she's a still a child – what interest could she possibly have in our plan?"

There was a pause and then a laugh. "Kyahahaha….I guess you are right, Jarves! So then, these rumours in Wyndia…."

"About our dragon being driven away by a boy with a key? Yes….I have heard.."

"Have you questioned the dragon about it yourself?"

A dragon? What was he talking about? Kairi did not understand, but something inside her told her to listen.

"I have, Scarlet. The only thing that he has given me is a physical description. Spiky brown hair, blue eyes, a silver key in his hand. He also had no wings..."

Kairi gasped and then put her hand in front of her mouth in case anybody heard her. Did Sora not carry a key with him when he met her at the Wyndian castle gate the previous day? Kairi decided to listen some more.

"Did the dragon catch his name?"

"No. I asked him about that. He only attacked the boy, not talked to him."

"Damn…..well, at least we know where the boy was last seen. And a description."

"Yes….I think that our dragon should pay another visit to Wyndia…I will head back to the headquarters and talk to him there…."

Kairi was about to dash out of the room, but remembered that Mr Argul and this Scarlet woman were behind the bathroom door. She then composed herself and opened the door. She passed her headteacher and the scary woman as if nothing happened and returned to her table to join her friends as if nothing had happened. She would tell them when they were out of the restaurant.

* * *

"Are you sure that you aren't imagining things?" Nina asked her, concerned. 

"I'm certain!" Kairi answered, certain at what she said.

It was half past seven in the evening. They were all sitting in the common room. There was nobody else about.

"You said….they were talking about….a guy with a key?" Sora asked her, worried that she could be telling the truth.

"Yeah, Sora! A kid with a key that attacked a dragon!"

Sora remained silent. So……that monster was a dragon? And it was looking for him? What for?

"But….that's impossible!" Nina protested. "Dragons are a myth!"

"That's what they say," Riku replied. "But just because nobody's seen something, it doesn't mean it doesn't exist."

"Even so, it worries me.." Kairi said, thoughtfully. "What if…..that creature attacks Wyndia again?"

"Then we'd have to stop it!" Riku declared.

"Us?" Kairi asked, uncertain of what Riku was suggesting.

"It could attack Wyndia at any time! We need to do something!"

"But….what do you suggest?" Nina asked, unsure of what Riku was planning.

"……we could investigate the headquarters tonight!" Riku suddenly said in a very determined manner.

Nina and Kairi looked at him with shock. "Are you crazy?" Nina nearly shouted. "At this time of night? What if we get caught?"

"We can't just sit here…..what if Wyndia is attacked? Besides, this is our only real chance!"

Sora stood up. "I agree with Riku," he suddenly said. "I want to know…if they are looking for someone with a key…do they mean…"

Nina paused. "I….see what you mean, Sora.." she said quietly. She then thought about it for a minute. Nina could not bear to see Wyndia be attacked by that monster again. And what if it _was_ a dragon? Dragon were said to be incredibly powerful and destructive creatures in the stories she read…..but then again they were stories. However, this monster seemed powerful enough to destroy half the city….

It was Nina's turn to stand up. "Alright!" she said. "I'm want to find out as well and I'm going to go tonight!"

Kairi remained quiet. Now Nina wanted to go as well. This made Kairi feel nervous…deep down in her heart, she knew that something terrible could happen.

* * *

It was half past midnight. Nina, Sora and Riku were once again out on the streets. Usually, at this time of night, they were not allowed out. However, Kairi stayed behind and went to bed early. Nina, Sora and Riku also 'went to bed early' and then got up, escaping through the windows – for Nina, climbing down the windows was an easy task, but Sora and Riku did need some of her help. Nevertheless, they succeeded in getting out of the school and onto the streets. Sora had taken his key with him. He felt that it was a good luck charm to him. Besides, if anything happened to Riku and Nina, then he had to be there for them. Riku carried a stick with him. Both he and Sora were very good swordfighters – they had learned fencing at school and Sora had training back in Parela. Nina was also a brilliant spellcaster, and Sora and Riku knew enough magic to defend themselves. 

They walked along the streets, aware of the thieves in the area. The Suverian Headquarters in Treno was not far away……only a few streets ahead…..

The Headquarters…..it was a grand old stone castle…..once inhabited by the rulers of Galbadia…..until it became under Suverian control. Now the building was used as a sort of Government. All sorts of secrets were inside that building that the ordinary person was not supposed to know.

"How do we get in?" Nina whispered as they reached the side of the building. "There are guards at the gates……with guns!"

"Yeah, we need to find another way round," Sora agreed. Riku nodded his head.

They walked around the castle. Every possible entrance was occupied by one or two soldiers, each with a gun on their arm for possible intruders.

"It's impossible!" Nina whispered again. "There are guards everywhere……and they mean business as well!"

Just then, Riku, who went on ahead to look for any entrance they might have missed, called to them. They ran up to him.

"It looks like we have no choice," the silver-haired boy said, with a tone of disgust.

"Uh….what do you mean?" Sora asked, not liking the sound of Riku's voice.

"Have a look down there," his friend answered, gazing at the crate on the ground before opening it.

Nina looked down the hole in disgust…. "Riku…a-are you serious!" she whispered loudly. "I-I'm not going down there!"

Sora did not like the idea….but he did see Riku's point…..this drain could lead somewhere inside the castle…..

"It's not like the ones at home, Nina…." Riku told her. "There's a ladder and if you do fall into the….well, you can have a shower in the morning."

"Riku! Really…there could be rats there!"

"It's a good thing that you can cast magic, isn't it?"

Sora then came in. "Nina….he's right…there's no other way we can get in. The soldiers…"

Nina looked at them both and then the drain. She really did not want to go into the sewers…she did not want to _think_ what was down there…….but how else was she able to save her kingdom? She finally gave in….

They climbed down the ladder. The good thing was….the sewers were more well-built than Wyndia's. There was a platform and a walkway.

"Ewww……it stinks!" Nina protested.

"Well, we are in a sewer, anyway!" Sora said, before laughing enthusiastically. After a few seconds, realising that nobody else was laughing, he decided to shut up.

They walked slowly along the little pathway, in the direction of where the castle should be. Nina, Riku and Sora all carried torches. It was not long until they reached some sort of crate with light pouring through…..Nina floated upwards to have a look.

After a few minutes….she descended. "It's a store room," she told them. "It's okay…..I think it's safe to come out."

And with that, she opened the crate and she helped the other two climb up and through the hole.

The store room was large and square…..with lots of boxes stacked all over the place.

"Wow….this store room is the larger than the one in Wyndia!" Nina exclaimed. She glanced at the two boys, who seemed uninterested and then decided to concentrate on her mission. They placed the crate back into place, in case of suspicion. They also checked their shoes…..which were not too muddy…and checked the door….it was not locked.

"Okay….I'm gonna check ahead," Sora ordered the others.

"What?" Riku and Nina turned to him.

"The three of us can't go together," Sora explained. "We'd be more likely to get caught."

"You can't go on your own!" Riku whispered in protest. "What if they find you out?"

"Wait!" Nina said. "How about….I go with Sora, and Riku you stay here?"

"Huh? Guys…."

"I see what Sora means, Riku….." Nina said to her friend. "And he can't go alone, so I'll go with him."

Riku looked at Sora and Nina for a second. "But what if you…."

"I want you to stay and keep watch…..hide in a box or something….and if we don't return within the next two hours…..or if something happens, then you come and look for us, okay?"

Riku hesitated and finally nodded his head. "Just make sure you don't get into trouble, okay guys?"

Sora peered through the door. The long stonewall passageway was dark, but there was light, due to the various candle-shaped light bulbs on the ceiling. There were portraits all over the landscapes – mostly of either pretty landscapes or people from history whom Sora did not know. However, that was not important right now.

"Is it clear?" Nina whispered.

"I think so!" Sora whispered back.

The young boy with the key and the winged princess then crept out of the storage room, leaving their friend to hide.

"Where to?"

"I don't know."

Sora had no idea of where the dragon was. It could be anywhere in this castle….so where could they go without being caught? They needed some sort of clue. However, they could not stay here. Slowly, Sora and Nina crept out of the storeroom and down the corridor.

* * *

It was difficult to tell how long they took to explore the rooms of the castle. The interesting thing, however, is that they came across nobody along the way, save a a few servants on night shift. When this happened, they managed to hide behind curtains or inside cupboards, which seemed to be everywhere in the castle. 

They finally found themselves in the Grand hall. Nobody was there. The pair examined the Grand hall. There was a very long table in the centre, probably used for meals, just like in Wyndia Castle. There were large purple banners with some sort of silver crown on – the symbol of the Suverian Empire – ruler of all. The Suverians had always been an ambitious tribe. The windows were hidden by the closed curtains, but it would have been too dark to see anyway.

"Hey, Sora! Look!"

Nina pointed to the other end of the room, where there was a large throne, which must have been used before the Suverian Empire took over Galbadia. In front of the throne, right in front of the throne, was a rectangle shaped hole, with steps going down. It was a secret passage. Nina's heart leapt in excitement. It was as if she was really in one of those adventures. Where could this passage lead to? A huge dungeon with a great many puzzles? A secret treasure? It could be treasure…..which was guarded by a flesh-eating monster!

"Nina!" Sora whispered loudly.

"What?" Sora grabbed her and shoved her behind a curtain.

"Please, be quiet," he pleaded. Footsteps were heard coming from the passageway. Then, he and Nina heard voices.

"Well, we'll leave him to recover then, shall we General Bosch?"

When he peered through the curtain, Sora could see two people talking. One of them was Mr Argul. The other was a young man – slightly shorter than him, wearing black trousers, a dark blue tunic and a blue cloak. His light blond hair was cut very short and his eyes were a dark brown.

"Agreed, Sir Argul."

"And that means that you leave him alone for a few hours…..we don't want you to accidentally kill him, do we?"

Bosch nodded rather sourly. Sora decided that he did not like Bosch. There was something about him that made him feel that he was not a man to be trusted, whether he was from the Empire or not.

Mr Argul was holding some sort of helmet. He carried it slowly to an antique suit of armour, which was standing to the left of the old throne. Sora noticed that the suit of armour had no helmet. When Mr Argul approached the armour, he placed the

Sora's eyes widened with surprise as he saw the passageway suddenly disappear under two white tiles. Mr Argul finished closing the door by covering the two white tiles by covering the possible entrance with a purple carpet. He then walked slowly to the door with Bosch following him. Mr Argul left the room. Bosch, before heading through the door to follow him suddenly sniffed at the air.

"Hmm..is it my imagination, or does something smell odd?" he said to himself. And with that, he exited the room.

Sora and Nina decided to wait a few minutes, just to make sure that the coast was clear. Sora then stepped out of the curtain slowly and towards the throne room, with Nina following him.

"We should open that trap door, shouldn't we?" Nina suggested. Sora nodded in agreement. Sora removed the purple carpet to reveal the two tiles. Nina crept towards the armour. She carefully lifted the helmet off.

She jumped to hear the sound of tiles moving a few metres away from her. As she looked, the tiles suddenly started moving apart from each other, followed by a staircase suddenly appearing from the darkness below…

Nina glanced at Sora, who nodded.

"Down there is our dragon, Nina."

_To be continued….._

**General Advanced exams are another idea of mine based on A levels (to those of you who have not heard of them, you take them at 16-18 years old – or at least used to until AS levels were added). Anyway, read and review! Flames are allowed, as long as somebody reviews! **


	3. 3 New friends

**Disclaimer: No I do not own the KH, BOF or FF. KH and FF belong to Square-Enix and BOF belongs to Capcom.**

Sora and Nina crept quietly down the long staircase. Sora went down first, with a torch in one hand and the key in the other. Nina followed behind, staff in her hand, half-fearful and half excited at what they were going to find. If it really was a dragon…….what would it look like? Would it be exactly as Sora described? Or would it be more terrible and fearsome?

They finally reached the bottom of what seemed like an endless stairway. Now, they had to travel down what seemed to be a long and dark corridor. Sora held his breath and continued. He felt in his heart that what was down there was not going to be good, but he _had_ to press on, in order to find out the truth.

Eventually, the two came to a small room. It was very dark, but they had torches. From what they could see, there was tall wooden cupboard right next to the entrance – which Sora nearly bumped into. However, the cupboard was not what caught their attention. At the other end of the dark, dingy little room, crouched in the corner and chained to the wall…was a boy.

The boy looked about nine or ten years old and was dressed in rags. His messy blue hair was about touching his shoulder. As Sora examine the boy, he noticed that there was a large scar on his left leg, which looked like it was made recently. There was also some sort of red collar fixed on his neck. The boy was fast asleep.

"So….there's no dragon.." Nina said, puzzled. "But….what's _he_ doing here?"

"Beat me.." Sora replied. Was the boy some sort of prisoner? What had he done wrong and why were they keeping him in such a secret place?

"Sora! Someone's coming!"

They quickly and quietly opened the cupboard and crept in, carefully shutting the door behind them so that it would not make a noise. Luckily for Sora, there was a hole in the cupboard that he could peer through.

Bosch came into the room. He had a torch in one hand, so that Sora could see his face. It was a face flushed with anger and rage. Sora could tell that whatever was wrong, Bosch meant business.

The blond general approached the small boy and peered over him. After a few seconds, he suddenly raised his hand and slapped the boy over the face.

"Wake up! Wake up, brat!"

Sora could not see the boy, but he could hear a small groan coming from that side of the room and he heard the slap.

"Dammit! It doesn't take you THIS long to stir does it?"

Sora's heart leapt. What was Bosch doing to him?

"Sora….what is going on?" Nina whispered. Sora moved so that she could see. She peered through the hole and her eyes widened with horror. "Th-this is wrong…." She stammered. They listened more closely.

"…..wh-what…..do…you want?" a little voice was heard from the same direction.

"Ah…..finally, a response!" Bosch taunted. "Took your time, didn't you?" Nina and Sora could then hear another slap and then another groan.

"Did anybody come in here just now?" Bosch suddenly demanded.

"Oh no!" Nina gasped, realising that they might have been discovered.

"I….don't know…what…you are talking about….." the boy answered in a weak voice.

"The passage has been opened! Somebody has removed the helmet from the suit of armour upstairs!" Bosch shouted. "There's an intruder in this castle!"

"…..I……didn't see anyone…" came the weak reply.

"You _didn't_? And you heard nobody coming?"

"…I was…….asleep…."

Just then, Bosch moved his hands in some motion. Nina realised that he was about to cast a spell. Flashes of lightning suddenly appeared from nowhere and the boy gave out a cry of pain.

A feeling of anger and disgust came flowed through Sora's body. How could that…..scumbag do such a thing to a small kid?

"Now, I think you need to answer my question again…." Bosch snarled.

"I told you……..I….don't know…." the boy protested.

More flashes of lightning occurred and the boy gave out another cry.

"I….can't watch!" Nina whimpered. She turned away from the hole and put her head in her hands. Sora felt that he wanted to go out and strangle Bosch right now. Maybe even stab him in the back with that key……but he had to stay in his hiding place. He could not take the risk.

"Bosch……I told you to leave him alone…."

Mr Argul's voice! Sora moved towards the hole to see.

"I said that he needed rest," Mr Argul said, in a rather angry tone. "How can that runt recover if you keep doing that?"

Bosch turned towards Mr Argul. "S-sir," he stammered. "T-there is a-an intruder in the castle!"

Mr Argul paused. "An…….intruder? Hmmmm……it must be that those two thieves…."

"What?"

"There is are two thieves in the castle….they came here a few hours ago….I fear they might be spies for the Returners…."

So……they were not the only people in the castle….

"I'll put some soldiers to guard the passageway entrance," Mr Argul continued. "Just in case our thief is in here…but leave the boy alone….he needs to rest in order to prepare for his next task…."

There was a pause…. "You got away with it, Bosch…..you've only knocked him out…"

And with that, Mr Argul walked towards the exit. "You must be tired, Bosch. It is the early hours of the morning. Why don't you get some rest as well?"

Mr Argul exited the room and Bosch followed, but stopped at the exit and turned to snarl at the boy, muttered something under his breath and then left.

Sora waited for a few minutes and then opened the cupboard door slowly. He approached the boy. Nina followed him.

"Is…..he dead?" Nina asked.

"No…..he passed out.." was Sora's answer.

Nina was relieved.

Sora was unsure what to do now. There would be guards posted at the entrance now, so they could not leave. But he knew one thing…..he could not leave that poor child there..clapped up in chains and continually beaten up by…….those bastards. Therefore, he took out his key and slashed at the chains. They broke instantly. Sora smiled to himself……this key was really handy in situations like this one. He picked up the boy. "Come on," he said to Nina. "We need to find a way out."

"How?" Nina asked. "They've got armed guards outside!"

"Not anymore, they haven't!"

Sora and Nina jumped. Somebody else was in the room. But who? Sora turned around….

Standing behind him and Nina was not a guard. Or Bosch or Mr Argul. Standing behind Sora were……..two strange men. How did they get in here?

The taller man was wearing a blue bandana which was tied around his head. His hair was a sandy blond colour. The man wore dark blue trousers and a blue jacket.

His shorter friend was a boy, a boy a few years older than Sora, maybe. His hair was also blond, but it was long and he wore it in a ponytail. Like the tall man, he wore blue trousers and a blue jacket with a shirt underneath, except that his own jacket was sleeveless. The boy wore grey and blue gloves with cufflinks. They did not look like employees from the Suverian Empire.

"W-who are you?" Sora demanded.

"We were just about to ask you the same question," the man answered. "Kids like you shouldn't be creeping into big buildings at this time of night. It's amazing you didn't get caught."

The blond boy suddenly nudged hid friend. "Locke," he said to him and pointed at Sora's key.

Locke's eyes widened with shock. "Z-Zidane! Th-that's….."

"Yeah," his friend replied. "It's the Keyblade…."

Sora and Nina stood where they were in confusion. Who were these people? They did not seem to be from the Empire, but if so, who were they and how did they get here? What was this Keyblade?

"Sora….you don't think, that these two……..could be the intruders that Mr Argul was talking about, do you?" Nina said to her friend thoughtfully.

"Huh?" Locke turned to them. "How did you know about him?"

"We overheard him talking here," Nina replied. "We were hiding in the cupboard at the time."

Locke began to laugh. "Must be because of one of the guards we beat up at the entrance!"

"You…..managed to get through one of the entrances?" Sora asked, curiosly.

"Well……how did you guys get in?" Zidane asked them.

Sora and Nina remained silent before Sora then slowly and blankly said "…..we came through the sewers…"

It was Zidane's turn to laugh. "No wonder there's such a funny smell in this room!" he chucked. Sora began to scowl.

Nina glanced at her dress miserably. It definitely needed a wash now. "It was Riku's i…" she began. She gasped. "Riku! We need to get back to him!" She started to head towards the stairs.

Locke grabbed her. "Are you nuts?" he whispered. "You can't just walk up there! What if you get found out?"

"It's okay," Zidane assured her. "We'll get you out of here. And we'll find….uh...whathisface…."

"Are you sure?" Sora asked, still suspicious of the men. "…..can we trust you?"

"You're gonna have a hard time getting out of this castle if you don't," Locke answered. "Besides, aren't you going to do something about _him_?"

Sora was still carrying the blue-haired boy. He knew that he needed to get him somewhere safe…..safe from _them_, anyway….

* * *

It took them a while to get back to the storage room. There were more guards than usual and Zidane and Locke had to try and either sneak up behind them to knock them out or try and hide with Sora and Nina behind more curtains or inside more cupboards. 

"This is it," Sora declared as they came to the door to the storage room. He opened the door and looked in. There was nobody there. Riku must be hiding in one of the barrels. Sora called out to him. "Riku!"

No answer.

Sora looked at his watch. It was about three hours since they left Riku….he told him to come out after two hours…..

"Riku!" Sora repeated.

There was still no answer.

"Do you think…..he might be looking for us?" Nina asked nervously. "We said two hours…." Sora nodded.

"We need to get going," Locke ordered.

"Huh? What about Riku?" Sora asked. "We can't just leave him!"

"We need to get you out of here as soon as possible," Locke explained. "Before they know that you're here."

"But…..Riku!" Nina protested. Locke shook his head.

"We can't look for him now. There's no time!" Locke was carrying the blue haired boy. He walked towards the entrance of the sewers and jumped down the hole. Zidane then grabbed Sora and Nina and dragged them to the hole and pushed them down….

* * *

It took a while for Zidane and Locke to persuade Sora and Nina to come with them, but Sora and Nina finally agreed when Zidane promised them that he would return to the castle and rescue Riku. 

They made their way through the sewers and back onto the streets.

"Now what?" Sora asked.

"This way!" Locke pointed to an alleyway. The five then headed towards the alley. They made their way down the street until they reached a small house with boarded-up windows.

"This is it," Locke declared. He opened the door.

* * *

Although the house looked abandoned from the outside, it was different in the inside. It looked more like a home. To the left, there was a small fireplace, and in front of it were two brown armchairs with cushions. To the right was a kitchen, with it's own little stove and a table with cooking tools and food. 

"You two should have a bath," Locke suggested. He pointed to the bathroom door.

"I'll go first!" Nina declared.

"Fine….." Locke replied. "There will be spare clothes in the cupboards."

Sora sat in one of the armchairs. Zidane had lit a fire, while Locke had gone upstairs to tend to the boy. Zidane was watching over the fire.

"Are you all right?" he asked Sora.

"….I hope Riku's okay," Sora said, still wondering what had happened to him.

"Hey, it's okay!" Zidane smiled. "At the worst, he'll be captured, but I don't think they'll do him any harm – or at least, they won't have done anything to him yet."

Locke came downstairs.

"Locke, is the kid okay?" Zidane asked.

"He should be……I think….I put on pyjamas and stuff and he's in bed at the moment. I couldn't get the collar off, though. Hasn't woken up, yet. However…" He paused and walked over to the fire.

"He does look like he's had a really rough time…."

"What do you mean?"

"…..he seems to be covered in scars…..there was one on his left leg…that seemed to be recent – quite a bad one, which I don't think will go away. And there was another recent one on his chest, but I think that will heal."

"Yeah….it must have been hell…."

"And there were two more scars…..on his back. Two straight ones, but they're old."

Sora listened to Locke's words, becoming fearful. What had that child done to deserve those scars?

Sora was able to have a bath and change into some new clothes. He managed find a blue and red shirt, a black jacket with a white hood. Sora also grabbed a pair of black trousers with red pockets and belts attached to the sides and some rather large black and yellow trainers. He also managed to sleep in the armchair for at least a few hours. When he woke up, it was seven o'clock in the morning. He saw Zidane packing some sort of bag. Zidane turned around and saw that he was awake.

"What are you doing?" Sora asked with curiosity.

"I'm going back to the castle," Zidane said. "I'll go and get your friend Rikkie or whatever his name is."

"It's Riku," Sora said. Zidane chuckled. He stopped when he turned around to look at the stairs. "Hey, so he's finally awake…"

Sora turned to the stairs to find the blue-haired boy in some grey pyjamas. The boy froze the moment he looked at Sora. Sora was puzzled by this.

He then noticed something odd about the boy…..his eyes….they were red…..some glaring sort of red colour...no normal creature that he had ever come across had red eyes like that boy had. The boy still had the red collar around his neck.

"Are you all right?" Sora asked. "Is there something on my face?"

The boy shook his head. He walked towards the door.

"Hey, kid! You can't walk out wearing that!" Zidane protested. "Besides, it's cold outside."

The boy turned around. "I have to go back," he said firmly.

Nina arrived downstairs and Locke followed. Nina was now wearing a white shirt with blue jeans. She did not like wearing trousers, but she had to wear something for now – at least until she could get some new clothes.

"Good morning, everyone!" she said happily. She noticed the small boy and smiled. "You okay?" she asked. The boy shook his head and went towards the door.

Sora ran up to him. "Where are you going?" he demanded. "You can't go outside in your pyjamas!"

"I have to go back," the boy repeated.

Sora was puzzled by his words. Go back……to the castle? Go back and get locked up in the dark all day? Go back and get tortured by that scum Bosch? He grabbed the boy. "Are you nuts, kid? Why would you want to go back to those…."

"I don't…." the boy replied sourly. "But you wouldn't understand…."

Just then, there was a knock on the door.

"Open the door!" was the voice from outside, which sounded very familiar….

"That voice….it's Scarlet!" Locke shouted.

"Scarlet……didn't we see her talking to Mr Argul?" Nina asked herself.

The boy tried to reach the door, but Sora pushed him away. "Go and hide!" he order the him. The boy remained where he was.

"If you don't want to go back to the castle, then I suggest you hide!" Sora shouted.

There was banging on the door. Sora found himself being pushed forwards as the door was pushed forwards.

Soldiers entered the room with guns. The blond woman talking to Mr Argul at the restaurant the previous night, Scarlet, stepped in. She looked around the place and spotted the blue-haired boy.

"Ah…..I have found the little runt at last!"

The boy glared at her, but said nothing.

Scarlet laughed evilly. "Kyahahaha…..I don't know how you escaped, boy….you are obviously not as pathetic as I thought you were…" She then looked around again and spotted Sora. "Ah…….that boy over there must be one of the students at the Sir Argul school….I saw you in that restaurant last night…I assume that red-haired girl must have told you about us. She is obviously more trouble than Jarves thought she was….stupid Jarves."

Sora's temper rose when he heard Kairi being referred to as 'that red-haired girl'. He was tempted to grab his key from the table but realised that this would be a bad idea.

"Anyway, no matter….." Scarlet continued. "I'll make a deal….as long as that little boy comes back with me, and we hush all this up….you can go back to school as if nothing happened."

"I am not letting you have him!" Sora answered, standing in front of the boy.

Scarlet smiled. "You are really brave," she smirked. "But you will realise that you have no choice…." She walked forwards. "Come here, Kainashiryu!"

The boy came out from behind Sora and walked forwards. Sora pulled him back. The boy suddenly screamed. "You'll only make it worse for him!" Scarlet warned Sora.

The boy released himself from Sora's grasp and started to walk towards Scarlet.

"Sora, we have to stop him!" Nina shouted. She then walked up to the boy and looked at him with kind eyes. "Why are you going back to these guys? You know what they did to you…"

"Princess Nina," Scarlet (Zidane and Locke jumped at the words 'Princess Nina')

"The child has no choice….he has to go back to the castle, whether he likes it or not…"

Nina pulled the boy away. Hecried outagain, as if Nina was hurting him. What was wrong with him?

Suddenly, as Nina looked at the boy, she saw his collar……it was glowing a bright red colour – this had not happened before. Maybe…..

"Sora!" she cried out. "The collar!"

Sora saw the collar around the boy's neck and realised what was going on. Scarlet seemed to be controlling the boy with it. In rage, he grabbed the collar and tried to pull it apart with no avail. Scarlet started to laugh.

"Kyahahaha! You need some special magical weapon to break a Slave Collar!"

Special magical weapon? Sora thought for a moment and had an idea. Without thinking it through, he grabbed his key from the kitchen table, where he had left it previously, and smacked it against the collar.

The collar disintegrated instantly. Scarlet's eyes widened in shock. The boy froze in horror. "Now he's done it!" Zidane whispered.

"Get them out of here," Locke whispered back.

Zidane walked upstairs. He turned back towards the others. "GUYS – RUN!" he shouted at Nina, Sora and the boy. Sora dashed upstairs. Nina followed him, grabbing the boy and dragging him with her – only this time, the boy did not resist or yell in pain.

"T-that boy with a key……GET HIM!" Scarlet ordered. The soldiers aimed their guns and started shooting.

"You know the exit, Zidane!" Locke shouted. "Take care of them!"

* * *

How they managed to escape without being shot, Sora did not know. Zidane knew his way though…..they climbed up to the attic, found a window in the attic and Zidane showed them a way over the rooftops of Treno. 

When they finally made it to the roof of an old church, they sat down for a rest. Nina kept watch for the guards.

"Are you all right, Zidane?" Sora asked

"Sora…..I'm sorry…" Zidane said quietly. "I don't think…..I can go back to the castle, for now…."

"Huh? Why do you want to go back…" Sora began but then stopped. Of course, he promised to get Riku back…..but how could they now….soldiers would be searching for them all over the city…it simply was not safe….all he could do was hope that Riku would be all right.

He walked over to the blue-haired boy. The boy was sitting down, watching the view of the city.

"Uh….are you okay now?" Sora asked the boy.

The boy looked down. "…I guess…." was his reply. He seemed rather troubled.

"Is there anything wrong?"

"…..no."

Sora shrugged. "Okay, then. You don't have to tell me now."

"Why would I want to tell you?" the boy asked, somehow making it clear to Sora that he was not going to tell him. Sora decided to change the subject…

"So…..kid……what's your name, then?"

The boy looked at him. "My name?" he asked, seeming surprised.

"Yeah…..your name…you must have a name….wait a sec….that Scarlet woman….she called Kannysheryu, didn't she?"

"No…"

"Damn….I can't remember!" Sora laughed. "So, what's your name, then?"

The boy remained silent.

Sora frowned. Why would the kid not want to tell his name?

"Uh…okay, if you don't want to tell me, we have to call you something…" The boy did not seem to object. Sora then thought for a few minutes. "…..how about 'Ryu'?" The name randomly came into his head.

"Ryu's fine by me," the boy answered plainly.

Sora smiled. "Well, it's a pleasure to meet you, Ryu."

_To be continued….._

**Yet another dull chapter for everyone!**

**Yeah, I used a Japanese translator for Ryu's real name. Although I'm not sure if it would be 'Kainashiryu' or 'Kainashi Ryu' or anything else as I don't speak Japanese. **

**Please read and review, people! I've had no reviews yet. I don't care if you like the story or not……all I want is a review!**


	4. 4 Escape

**Disclaimer: No, I do not own these games. Final Fantasy belongs to Square-Enix. Kingdom Hearts belongs to both Square-Enix and Disney. Breath of Fire belongs to Capcom.**

**Just like to apologise for not updating! I have been at boarding school, and had been filtered by the school Internet. Also, I had trouble thinking of a good escape method for Sora, Nina, Ryu and Zidane in order to get out of Treno. Now, on with the chapter!**

Sora, Nina, Ryu and Zidane managed to seek refuge in the small ancient church in Treno. Zidane had been friends with the priest for years, although Sora did not know how. Nevertheless, it was important that they had a place to hide, especially as they heard that there were wanted posters of them all over the city.

The moment that they were let in, they were led to the back room of the church, which consisted of a small table with chairs around it and three beds at the side of the wall. The priest would sometimes let travellers use the church for the night if they had nowhere to stay for whatever reason.

"You use the beds," Zidane offered. "I've slept on the floor before."

Sora fell on the bed, exhausted from his escape. He had a lot on his mind. Zidane said that they had to get out of the city as soon as they could, because it was no longer safe for them. He knew now that Kairi was at least half right – the Suverian Empire were definitely after him. Why? What was so special about his Key? Sora examined his strange key which seemed such a powerful weapon…..

The priest's daughter, Anna, would go out to the square and obtain food for Sora, Nina, Ryu and Zidane. She would usually bring sandwiches, but if they were lucky, she would sometimes come to them with sweets, such as chocolates, marshmallows and jelly beans. However, unfortunately for Sora, they were not allowed chewing gum. "My father would disapprove if he found out," Anna explained when Sora asked why. Man, it reminds me of school, Sora thought, disappointed.

Zidane wanted to talk to his friends about something important the night of their arrival. It was not safe for him to tell them during the day, as the priest was holding services during the day. Although it was safe for them to talk, what Zidane wanted to reveal could uncover their identity if anybody happened to be walking past their room. Sora had to keep his key hidden under his bed.

So, during the first day, Sora decided to have another rest. Even though he had a few hours sleep before their escape, he was still a little tired from his adventure in the castle. Ryu was already in bed, fast asleep. Sora could tell by the boy's face that he had not slept so comfortably in a long time. When Sora had seen the boy in light, he noticed that he had a couple of lines across his eyes, a sign of a lack of sleep. No wonder, Sora thought, after all, the kid had been spending what seemed a great many days and nights, alone in a dark and damp place, sleeping sitting up on a hard floor and occasionally being woken up by that arrogant and cold-hearted curr who for some reason was called Bosch. Why was Ryu in that small room, all alone? Why did the Empire lock him up and treat him this way? Where did he come from and why did he leave?

Zidane was busy talking with Nina and what he said had rather amused Sora, especially when he heard Nina's reaction.

"Hey, your High- actually, Nina.."

Nina stared at him, wondering whether to be offended by what he called her or not. Apart from Sora, Riku, Kairi, her father and a few of her closest friends at school, she was _never _called by her name – only 'Princess' or 'Your Highness'.

"It's still daylight, Nina. They don't know you're here!" Zidane explained.

Nina realised his point. "Um…sorry," she replied. "…uh…what did you want to say, Zidane?"

Zidane smirked. He then gazed at Nina. "You know," he whispered. "I think that we might have met before…."

Nina shook her head. "I don't think we have, Zidane," she answered, slightly annoyed by his tone.

"Are you really sure?" Zidane said, appearing to be surprised. "I am sure we have met somewhere……and it was destiny that we should meet again!"

Suddenly, Nina realised what Zidane meant. She gave a sly little smile and her reply was, "Nice try, Zidane, but my father would be very angry if he found out that I wanted to spend the rest of my life on the Wyndian throne with some lowly criminal. Besides….." and she turned her back towards him. "you aren't my type anyway."

Zidane's dirty smile faded and he started to sneer at Sora, whom he noticed was covering his face with a pillow, trying, and failing, to cover up his laughter.

* * *

Anna came to the heroes at seven in the evening and told them that it was safe for them to talk – her father had finished his last church service for the day. The four escapees then gathered around the table. Ryu had woken up from his sleep, looking refreshed. That nap must have done him real good, thought Sora. When they were all seated, Zidane stared them all for a few seconds. 

"Is there anything wrong, Zidane?" Nina asked, concerned at her new friend's behaviour.

"N….nothing," Zidane answered, nervously. "I just…….well, I'm not sure how you guys are gonna react to what I'm gonna say…"

"Well, you won't know until you tell us," Sora replied.

Zidane nodded in agreement. He then took a deep breath and began.

"Have you heard…..of the Returners?"

Sora thought for a moment. "Are they…..that underground group that's working against the Empire?" he asked with curiosity.

"Yeah.." Zidane began –

"Wait a minute!" Nina interrupted. "Zidane, are you and Locke…….agents of the Returners?"

"Wow…you're fast!" Zidane exclaimed. "How did you work that out?"

"When we overheard the conversation between Mr Argul and that guy Bosch about you and Locke, we heard Mr Argul say that he thought that you might be Returners!"

Zidane started to chuckle a little. "Well, Mr Argul maybe ain't as dumb as I thought he was..heheheh….." Zidane then continued. "Well, yeah…….Locke and I are Returners……but….the Returners aren't what you think they are…"

"In what way?" was Sora's question.

"Well…..we aren't to overthrow the Empire……we're only to watch over them…..and if they do something what seems….well, immoral, then…we try to find a way to stop them, basically….."

Sora then began to think…….what were Zidane and Locke doing in the castle? Had the Empire done something wrong recently? Suddenly, something came to Sora's mind…..

"Zidane, did you hear any rumours about a dragon?"

Zidane looked a little shocked. "Hey…..you're as fast as Nina….." he then nodded. "Yeah, I heard this talk about a dragon…..in the Suverian headquarters…….Locke and I went to take a look….."

Ryu turned pale. Sora noticed this and wondered why, but decided not to say anything.

"Well………we heard about a dragon attacking Wyndia…….."

Sora closed his eyes, remembering the day that he was out in Wyndia….when that strange creature came to Wyndia and destroyed a lot of the city.

"And we heard from contacts in Wyndia that half of Wyndia's been destroyed by some creature………so we know it's not a rumour.." Zidane continued.

"So, Kairi was definitely right!" Nina nearly shouted.

"Huh?" Zidane asked, confused.

Sora and Nina decided that it would be best to tell Zidane what they knew, as they both knew that they could trust him. They told him everything…..about Sora encountering the dragon in Wyndia, about Kairi hearing the conversation in the restaurant and about them deciding to investigate, as they were worried about Wyndia. Zidane listened to them very carefully.

"I know it's a little hard to believe, but…..it's the truth," Sora said after they had finished their story.

"No, I believe you," Zidane said back. "That key is powerful enough to defeat any foe that stands in its way, even if it _is_ a dragon…."

"Do…..you think that…..the dragon will attack Wyndia?" Nina asked, worried about her home, knowing that they had failed to find it.

"It won't," Ryu suddenly spoke before Zidane could have a chance to answer.

Zidane, Nina and Sora turned to Ryu.

"How do you know?" Sora asked, getting the impression that Ryu had something to hide.

"I just do…." Was Ryu's reply. "But the Empire may find other methods…"

Nina hoped that he was right.

"Well, anyway…I know that I've told you before but I'll tell you guys again…...you can't stay here," Zidane declared. They all nodded in agreement.

"So…..where do we go?" Sora wanted to know. "Should we head back to Wyndia?"

Zidane shook his head. "They know who you are and where you live, Sora. Wyndia would be too obvious…."

Sora nodded his head, expecting that answer. In his mind, he knew that he was not going to go home for a while…….not for a very long time, anyway…..

"Listen, Sora, there is someone who would like to meet you," Zidane then said.

"Who?"

"The leader of the Returners…….our base is hidden on an island, somewhere in the ocean…..although I can't say where, in case somebody finds out where we are heading to…."

* * *

They stayed in the church for five days. Anna would come around to bring news of what is going on in the city, as well as food. The third day, she came around with some clothes for Nina and Ryu. 

"At last, I can get out of this stupid outfit!" Nina said happily.

"Well, I thought you looked a little odd in men's clothing," Anna replied with a laugh. "Besides, I was gonna get some clothes for Ryu anyway – you guys will have a long journey ahead of you and he won't want to be walking on roads and across hills in his pyjamas!"

Nina was very happy with the dress that she was given. It was rather short, but it did not matter to her – she and Kairi always wore short dresses and skirts at school with their friends when they were going out to town. They even wore them in the castle, as long as it was not a special occasion such as a guest coming to visit. Nina admired her short purple dress, which was above the legs, and her long brown boots. She had managed to cut two holes at the back for her wings, as she did with most of her dresses.

Ryu's appearance changed dramatically when he was in his new gear – he no longer looked like the weak, tired and pathetic child that Sora had seen in the Suverian castle. He still had the scar on his leg, but there was nothing that they could do about that. Ryu was dressed in a brown tunic which came with a small rucksack. His long and rather messy hair was tied in a ponytail. He looked like a normal nine year old child who was prepared for a great journey, even though he was a child prepared for a journey.

"Hey…….you look pretty good in that dress!" Zidane cried to Nina. "It makes you look incredibly sexy!"

"That's real sweet of you, Zidane," Nina smiled. "But if you think that a comment such as that is going to woo me, then I think you're wrong…"

Zidane sighed in disappointment and turned to Ryu. "Kid….you look completely different from earlier!" he exclaimed. "You look a lot better than you did in those rags….and even your pyjamas…"

Ryu said nothing.

* * *

"_Why does he have to leave us?"_

"_You know why, Helen! He's not safe here anymore!"_

_A woman sat in her chair with her head in her hands. It was difficult to tell how long she had been crying for. A man was standing beside her, his right hand on his shoulder. _

_A boy sat on another chair, a young boy of twelve with spiky brown hair and blue eyes, looking at the man and woman in confusion. _

"_I know why Sora can't stay in the village," the woman sobbed. "But I……can't understand why we can't come with him…"_

_Another woman was standing at the other side of the room. A woman with long, dark blue hair under some sort of purple hood. _

"_Ma'am …I can assure you, the boy and his friend will be in safe hands……this is for YOUR safety as well as theirs…"_

_The man hugged Helen. "Helen, it will be okay. Our son will be fine."_

"_I think that we should start to leave," the blue-haired woman declared. _

_The boy grabbed his rucksack, which was sitting beside his chair. He glanced at the man and Helen._

"_Wait!" Helen cried before getting up. She walked towards the boy and threw her arms around him. "Sora……don't forget…I am your mother and I will always love you…" she whispered to him. The boy looked at his mother, seeing the tears in her eyes. He gulped, trying very hard not to cry._

_The man then walked over to the boy. He stared at him, hesitating, and then also threw his arms around the boy._

"_Be brave, Sora…for me and your mother, okay?" he asked, his voice breaking. _

_The boy nodded and then walked slowly towards the blue-haired woman. The woman remained unmoved by what was going on. _

"_I suggest that you and the rest of the people of the town evacuate as soon as possible," she stated plainly. "If you don't want to end up like some of the other town and villages." _

_The man nodded. The woman opened the door and headed out. The boy gave one final glance at his two parents……well, at least his best friend Kairi was coming with him, so it would not be too bad…but when would he see his family again? _

_Tears started to fill his eyes. The boy could not take it anymore. He turned towards the doorway, headed out of the house and began to follow the woman…_

Sora woke up suddenly. He groaned and sat up. Man, he hated that dream….. he had it more than once. It did not occur very often, but when it did, it would always bring him great pain.

It was the third night in the church. Everybody else was asleep. Nina was tucked up in her bed, her wings folded inwards as she slept. Zidane was sleeping on some sort of hard mattress. How could he sleep that comfortably? Sora wondered, until he realised that he had been living in the luxury that was Wyndia Castle for a few years……._and _he always slept in a reasonably comfortable bed in boarding school. Sora could not _ever _remember having to sleep on the floor. Ryu was lying in his bed, curled up as if he did not have a care in the world.

Sora sat back in his bed and sighed. How would they get out of this small room? He had been spending the past three days in total boredom. Sora almost wished that he had not decided to sneak into the castle for some damn dragon (_almost_ – what would have happened to Ryu if he and Nina did not find him?), then Riku would not have disappeared. Sora would have been able to continue his schoolwork and spend lots of time going out to town with Nina, Riku and Kairi…..

Kairi…Sora realised that she was still at school! He doubted that she knew about what had happened…she was probably wondering what had happened to them! He _had _to let her know!

There was some paper on the table. Zidane has used it earlier that day to write some sort of messages – to the headquarters of the Returners, Sora assumed, as Zidane would not tell him. Whatever it was, it did not matter. Sora took some matches from the chest of drawers nearby and lit a candle (as there was no electricity in the room). Placing the candle on the table, he began to write….

_Dear Kairi_

_I am sure that you are wondering what had happened to us. Well, I am not sure what to tell you…except that Nina and I are fine. I can't tell you where we are at the moment, but we are planning to leave the city soon – I am sure that you have seen the posters about us all over the city. A new friend of ours (a guy named Zidane – you've seen him in the posters, haven't you?) has suggested that we can go to his place, where there won't be anybody from the Empire who knows about us. _

_Now for the bad news…when we found our way into the castle, we decided to split up…Nina and I would go on ahead, while Riku would stay behind and come to look for us in case we got into trouble. However, when we returned to his hiding place, he wasn't there. I wanted to stay behind and look for him, but Zidane said that it too dangerous – I can't get caught. I really hope he's all right, though……maybe he went back to school, but I don't know. If he is back at school, could you tell him that we couldn't find the dragon?_

_Yeah, we found no dragon, even though we searched. I am getting really worried about what the Suverian Empire… will they attack Wyndia with the dragon, just as they planned? Ryu (another new friend of ours) does not seem to think so. He says that the Empire won't attack with the dragon now, but may find other ways to attack Wyndia without them being suspected. As far as I have heard, Wyndia is still safe, which is a relief, for now. _

_Nina is fine. Zidane is trying to hit on her, but is failing miserably. It's quite funny to watch! She is going to come with me when we leave the city, so don't worry about her. _

_Geez…I have run out of things to write! Well, I hope that you are well and that this letter gets to you. I am really missing you already. I gotta go now…it's the middle of the night and I should get back to bed before I wake the others up._

_Thinking of you, always._

_Your friend_

_Sora._

He gave the letter to Anna in the morning to post it to Kairi, with the address in her own handwriting.

* * *

They already had a plan to get out of the city. Anna was going to draft out some identity cards, which could help them get out of the city gate. They had thought about using the train, but decided against that, as the train was in Suverian territory – there would be soldiers patrolling the train, in case of any trouble. Therefore, walking on the road was a safer option. 

"I wish they had cars in this country," Sora sighed when talking to Nina on the journey. "Like they do in Suveria."

"Hmm…..it would be easy," Nina replied. "But Treno's a really beautiful historical city….it would look spoiled if there were concrete roads….and they would have to knock down some of the buildings."

Sora nodded, accepting the sad truth that Nina was right. Oh well, at least they allowed the trains…that had helped them get to school quickly.

* * *

They approached the city gates on the fifth day – Zidane, Sora, Nina and Ryu, with their fake passes. They handed them over to the soldier standing guard. 

"Hmm…..Adam Follott, are you?" the soldier grunted.

"Yep," Zidane lied. "And those two boys there are my brothers, Spike and Shrimp." He glanced over to Sora and Ryu, who both gave him hostile looks for making up such ridiculous names. Sora usually got sensitive when people made fun of his hair and Ryu was obviously offended by Zidane's joke about his size.

"And….uh….this is my girlfriend, Rosie Silverwing," he added before turning to Nina. Nina smiled in a rather sarcastic manner, while secretly wondering what spell would stop Zidane from flirting with her again – Fire? Thunder? Or maybe Simon?

The soldier ignored them and examined the passports. "Okay, you can go," he murmured, before opening the gates…..

Sora had his key in a sack. There was no other way that he could carry it out of the city. He walked through the gate with the others, with the bag on his back. Just then….

"Hey, wait!" the soldier shouted. The party came to a halt. The soldier walked up to them. "You, boy…"

He pointed to Ryu.

"Your eyes……they…."

Ryu froze. Surely, the guard did not know….

"General Bosch told us that the wanted criminal Sora might attempt to escape the city…..and could be travelling with a small boy with red eyes…"

Zidane became instantly alert. He reached for the daggers in his sheath…..

"I am afraid that you can't leave just yet," the soldier then stated. "Not until General Bosch has seen you….." He then held out his gun at Ryu.

Nina drew out her wand. Anna had given it to her, as she would need it for the road, in case they met any bandits. Ryu drew out his sword – also given to him by Hannah.

"Ah…..so you intend to fight us, little brats? This should be interesting.." the soldier laughed in a mocking tone. His arm was right near Ryu's head. Sora was tempted to take the Keyblade out, but he knew that this would be dangerous.

Nina closed her eyes and started a little chant, preparing a spell. Zidane began to walk towards the soldier.

"Now, I don't think we need to be aggressive," the soldier said, still in his mocking tone. "Now, we can settle this quickly, you guys can go and talk to Bosch and I can get a promo…"

He did not finish his sentence as he was hit by a ball of fire. Ryu jumped out of the way, sword still in hand.

By now, a few other soldiers had approached the group, with their guns out..

This time, Ryu had closed his eyes and moved his hands.

The soldiers then moved their guns towards Sora, who seemed to be the only person unarmed. Sora was tempted to get his Keyblade out…and in fact reached for the sack, but Nina shook her head at him.

Suddenly, a cloud of gas appeared right in front of Ryu and moved towards the group of soldiers. Those soldiers that were instantly caught in it suddenly froze as they were covered by this gas. Others stepped back and started to run back inside the city gates. However, the soldiers that were touched by the gas were unable to escape, as they were suddenly covered by a huge cloud of dust. When the dust had disappeared, the soldiers 'disappeared' and in their place were a group of stone statues.

"T-they've been turned to stone!" Nina cried.

"R-Ryu…..what did you just do?" Zidane demanded, turning to Ryu.

Ryu looked at his companions as if they were mad. "It's just a spell," he answered, as if it was no big deal.

"A spell! That was a Stone Breath spell!" Sora exclaimed, also in shock. "It's a Blue Magic spell. You are really something!"

"…..because I can use blue magic?" Ryu asked, still not understanding why it is such a big shock.

"Ryu, blue magic is a very complicated study of magic," Nina said. "It takes years and years to learn and master! I have _never _seen anybody as young as you with the ability to cast it without problems."

Ryu thought for a minute. He could tell that his travelling companions now realised that he was not labelled as what they called 'normal'. He knew that he had better be cautious……because if they _did _find out his identity, then……

Ryu's head turned towards the road. "Shouldn't we be going, before more come?" he suggested.

_To be continued…_

**Thanks to the following reviewers….**

**Airess – Thank you so much for being my first reviewer! I was suffering from the neglect of reviews that I was wondering whether I should continue, but you have made me feel the urge to do so, now!**

**Macross-Green – You have also made me want to continue! Yes, KH, BOF and FF characters are a really strange combination . I was thinking of a similar fanfic before, but a humour one. I also wanted to create a Breath of Fire adventure story. Then, suddenly, this crazy idea came into my head.**


	5. 5 On the road

**Disclaimer: Blah, blah…..BOF belongs to Capcom. KH belongs to Square-Enix and Disney. FF belongs to just Square-Enix. **

**Ah….only three reviews so far (not really unexpected, though), but that doesn't matter – at least I know that I'm loved! Anyway, on with the fic!**

Finally……they were on the road again, after a little hassle from the guards, but Ryu had sorted them out. It was now safe for Sora to take his Keyblade out of his sack for a while. He would need it anyway, because there was no guarantee what creature they would meet on the way.

"So….where are we going now?" Nina asked Zidane.

"….we'll be passing through a few towns," was Zidane's answer. "Until we get to the port town of Lyp. Then we hire a boat."

Nina would gaze at the fields while walking. It was the harvest season, so they could see that farmers were gathering crops. Zidane managed to steal few apples, which were just about ripe, without anybody noticing (lots of children would sometimes come into the fields to either climb the trees or steal fruit, which would really annoy the farmers). Sora was not keen on apples, but they were extra rations for the journey, in case the food ran low, so he was glad to have them.

"It's an easy walk," Nina said happily.

"Heh…you won't be saying that for long," Zidane laughed. "Just wait til you get to the forest."

"Why the forest?" Nina asked, curious about Zidane's warning.

"Bandits," was his response.

* * *

They had been walking down the road for three hours by the time they reached the forest. The road seemed to go straight through and there seemed to be no way around. 

"I wish I could find another route for you guys," Zidane declared, seeming reluctant to go through. Sora looked towards the forest and saw that he was right. There was something about the forest – something about the tall, dark evergreen trees, something eerie and unwelcoming. He could hear Nina gulp beside him. Ryu seemed very alert. None of them wanted to enter….

"How long till we're out of this forest?" Nina started to moan.

They had not been in the forest that long, but Nina had enough already and the others could see that. Although the road was ahead of them, the trees towered over them. There was little light in the forest, apart from the daylight above.

"Don't worry, I'll protect you, my love," Zidane answered, half-jokingly and half-trying to sound confident.

"Z-Zidane! That's n-not funny!" Nina cried angrily. Sora glared at Zidane. Even he did not find the joke amusing.

Taking this hint, Zidane fell silent and they continued their journey.

They walked on for a few more minutes.

"How long now?" Nina began to whine.

"You asked us three minutes ago, Nina," Sora sighed.

"Yeah, but…."

Zidane put a hand up to tell her to be silent. "I hear voices," he said suddenly.

Everybody came to a halt. Zidane pointed to the road and moved his finger to his lips, in order that the others would keep quiet. They started to walk slowly and quietly. Sora listened closely….

"Leave me alone!"

There was a roar of laughter coming from ahead. Zidane crept a few steps ahead so that he could see what was going on. He then motioned the others to come up to him and pointed to what was ahead.

A girl was sitting in the middle of the road, trying to get up. She did not seem much older than Sora, Nina or Zidane (who was seventeen), maybe a few years older. Her short hair was a light brown colour and she wore three long huge earrings on her right ear. The girl was wearing a white shirt and some short purple skirt which went above her knees. Her cloak was pink and she was holding a staff. She was surrounded by four scruffy men, one of them whose sword was pointing at her throat.

"I said let me go!" the girl demanded. "You'll regret it if you do!"

The four men burst out laughing. The man with the sword then spoke.

"If you give us that ring on your left hand, then maybe we will let you go."

The girl gazed at her gold ring with a sapphire in the middle. It was on her fourth finger – her engagement ring! She could not possible give it up! The girl then shook her head.

The man moved his sword. The girl gasped. "You ain't makin' this easy for yourself," he taunted. "A pretty young lady like you shouldn't be walking alone in the woods, anyway…"

Sora wanted to rip the man's throat, but was unsure if it would be wise to step forward and expose himself. He looked at Zidane for advice.

"Don't worry…..I have a plan…" Zidane whispered in a rather determined tone.

"So…we are gonna help her, then?"

"Course we are…..can't walk away when a cute looking girl like her is getting bullied by swines like them. Goes against my nature."

Sora sighed with relief. He drew his Keyblade out, ready for attack.

"Wait!" Zidane said. He turned to Nina. "Can you cast a spell for me?"

Nina nodded and started to motion her hands, chanting softly. A combination of fire and lightning flew straight to and hit the man with the sword. He screamed and fell over. The girl looked around in surprise.

"Great work, Nina!" Zidane cackled. "Can you do another one?"

"Sure," Nina replied. She then moved her hands again and shards of ice moved towards and hit another of the bandits, who yelled and clutched his left arm in pain. The other two bandits then moved back. The one with the sword was trying to get up.

"T-there's s-something tryin' to…" one of the bandits stammered.

"My turn," Zidane whispered to Sora.

"Huh?" Sora's eyes were fixed on the bandits, but he turned around……and Zidane was gone.

Nina prepared another spell. It was Sever this time. One of the bandits found himself taken up by a whirlwind. He screamed before hitting a tree, knocking him unconscious before he dropped to the floor.

"I'm going to run out of spells soon, Sora," she said. "I might need to save some for the rest of the journey."

Sora agreed with this and turned to Ryu. "Do you have any blue magic that you can use?" he asked.

Ryu turned to him, looking confused.

"Well, do you? C'mon! That girl's in trouble!"

Ryu hesitated for a few seconds. Should they not move on? They were supposed to be making their way to the Returner's hideout? Why tend to this girl when she would prove of little use to them? However, something in his heart told Ryu that he should help. He was not sure why, though, but he knew that he would regret it afterwards if he did nothing. Therefore, Ryu took a deep breath and started to chant.

A few seconds later, one of the bandits was hit by a magical fist, which randomly appeared from nowhere.

The girl then stood up. It was her turn to chant. Just then, a magic circle appeared from nowhere, right behind her. The bandit who was knocked down by shards of ice recovered quickly, and moved towards the girl, only to be attacked by the magic circle's red hot flames. Finally, the bandit who had been hit by a magic fist, who was the least injured of his friends, drew out his dagger and aimed at the girl. He about to move towards her when he felt a sharp pain on his back. When he turned around, he could see that from nowhere, a blond haired boy had appeared and had stabbed him on the back.

Snarling, Zidane drew his dagger out of the man's back. "Don't you ever lay a finger on her again," he threatened.

The man just stared at Zidane before falling to the ground.

The man who originally pointed his sword at the girl's throat watched in horror as his companions fell one by one. Angrily, he forced himself to his feet and was about to charge at Zidane, when Sora came to the rescue, charging towards the man and slashing at him with his key. The man once again fell over. Sora walked up to the man lying on the floor and until he towered over him. He pointed his Keyblade at the terrified man.

"Wh……who are you people?" the man whimpered as Ryu and Nina came out from their hiding places and into the open.

"I don't think you need to know that," Sora answered quietly but with a tone of disgust in his voice. "Just leave her alone…..before you feel more pain…."

And with that, he walked towards the girl.

"Are you all right?" he asked.

The girl did not answer at first. She still had not recovered from what had just happened. She looked around at her rescuers and smiled nervously.

Zidane took her by the arm, turned towards the road ahead and led her down the pathway. Sora, Nina and Ryu followed them, leaving the injured bandits behind.

* * *

They walked on in silence until they were out of the forest. Zidane suggested that if they needed to keep a look out for more bandits, and if they were distracted by talking to each other, then there was a chance that they could get ambushed. They needed to be alert, with their weapons out. 

To Nina's relief, it only took two hours until they were from the dark and sinister forest and back into the wide open meadows again.

"Wow…..those flowers are really pretty!" Nina exclaimed.

"Hmm….they are…..would you like me to get you one?" Zidane asked.

"Not from _you_, thank you," the princess replied.

Zidane made a sad face. He then turned to the girl. "Well, maybe I'll get one for um…..sorry, I don't know your name."

"It's Yuna," the girl smiled nervously.

"Wow…Yuna…..that sure is a pretty name," Zidane smiled.

Nina gave him a stern look which told him to leave their new companion alone. The girl just smiled shyly at all of them. Sora decided to say something.

"Um…where are you going, Yuna?"

"Um….to the town of Lyp….where I can get a ship," she replied. "I have to go to Luca to meet my fiancé."

"Your fiancé? Man, I forgot about him…" Zidane sighed, disappointed. Muffled sounds of laughter were coming from Sora's direction. Yuna noticed this.

"I'm sorry, but yes, I _am_ engaged," Yuna said, knowing very well that Zidane liked her but also trying to be polite about it at the same time.

"Oh well," Zidane said in a melancholy voice. His voice then changed. "Anyway, where did you say you were going again?"

"The town of Lyp."

"What a coincidence!" Zidane exclaimed. "We're going there as well!"

"Are we?" Sora asked.

"Zidane told us before the forest," Ryu said. "You didn't forget?"

Sora then remembered. "Oh….yeah……hey, Yuna, why don't we take you to Lyp?"

"That's EXACTLY what I was thinking, Sora!" Zidane laughed.

"It's exactly what you _would _think, Zidane," Nina pointed out.

Yuna just giggled. To Sora, she seemed a very shy young woman who talked little, but she also seemed to be quite friendly and gentle, especially with that smile on her face.

"Um….are you sure we should be taking her along?" Ryu asked Sora.

"Why not? She's going to Lyp like us," Sora answered, slightly puzzled by Ryu's question.

"…..would we trust her?"

This seemed a question that puzzled Sora even more. Yuna did look suspicious in any way whatsoever.

"Why shouldn't we?" Sora asked, in response to Ryu's question. "She don't look like she's from the Suverian Empire. Have you seen her before?"

"….no…" Ryu then became quiet again, unable to give a justifiable answer as to why they should not take Yuna with them. He did not trust her, but then again he did not trust Nina, Zidane or even Sora. Ryu knew that his mission was now to make sure that Sora was not taken by the Empire. Therefore, he had to travel with Sora, Nina and Zidane in order to watch over Sora. If they were caught, then Ryu knew that something dreadful could happen…

* * *

_Dear Kairi,_

_I am sure that you are wondering what had happened to us. Well, I am not sure what to tell you…except that Nina and I are fine. I can't tell you where we are at the moment, but we are planning to leave the city soon – I am sure that you have seen the posters about us all over the city. A new friend of ours (a guy named Zidane – you've seen him in the posters, haven't you?) has suggested that we can go to his place, where there won't be anybody from the Empire who knows about us. _

_Now for the bad news…when we found our way into the castle, we decided to split up…Nina and I would go on ahead, while Riku would stay behind and come to look for us in case we got into trouble. However, when we returned to his hiding place, he wasn't there. I wanted to stay behind and look for him, but Zidane said that it too dangerous – I can't get caught. I really hope he's all right, though……maybe he went back to school, but I don't know. If he is back at school, could you tell him that we couldn't find the dragon?_

_Yeah, we found no dragon, even though we searched. I am getting really worried about what the Suverian Empire… will they attack Wyndia with the dragon, just as they planned? Ryu (another new friend of ours) does not seem to think so. He says that the Empire won't attack with the dragon now, but may find other ways to attack Wyndia without them being suspected. As far as I have heard, Wyndia is still safe, which is a relief, for now. _

_Nina is fine. Zidane is trying to hit on her, but is failing miserably. It's quite funny to watch! She is going to come with me when we leave the city, so don't worry about her. _

_Geez…I have run out of things to write! Well, I hope that you are well and that this letter gets to you. I am really missing you already. I gotta go now…it's the middle of the night and I should get back to bed before I wake the others up._

_Thinking of you, always._

_Your friend_

_Sora._

Kairi had received Sora's letter the evening that he had left Treno. She had the past few days continually worrying over what happened to her friends. One evening they were there, and the next….they had just disappeared. Sora, Nina and Riku had promised her that they would be back by the morning. However, when she paid a visit to both Nina's room and the boy's dormitories, she saw nobody. Did they get caught?

This thought was stuck in Kairi's head for the whole of the morning when they disappeared. She talked little to her friends at school who knew that something was wrong.

"Umm……Kairi…..do you know where Sora is?" Selphie whispered her in the classroom during a lesson with Miss Trepe.

Kairi shook her head.

"Um…are you okay? You look a little down."

"Yeah…I'm fine," Kairi whispered back.

"Selphie, Kairi, no talking!" Miss Trepe called out to them. The two girls stopped instantly. Miss Trepe was a firm woman, who could tolerate little talking in her class.

Kairi felt that she could not work. When she looked at her Maths questions, she found herself unable to think. Kairi was good at Maths – she usually found the sums and the formulas very easy and could complete her work within minutes, but…..today, she just could even write anything down….

"Kairi, can I see you after the lesson please?" she heard Miss Trepe say from the front of the classroom.

Kairi nodded miserably. First, her friends disappear and the next moment, she was in trouble. How could the day get worse?

"Are you alright, Kairi?" Miss Trepe asked, when all the other students had left.

Kairi nodded, reluctant to answer. Her teacher was not convinced.

"You haven't been doing any work all morning. The page is empty…"

"…Sorry, Miss Trepe," Kairi mumbled, biting her nails.

"This isn't like you at all," Miss Trepe continued. "Is there anything wrong?"

Kairi did not say anything. Miss Trepe frowned.

"Hm…..you look really pale," she said. "You don't look well, I think that you should take the rest of the day off school."

And so, Kairi spent the next few days in her room. She could hardly sleep, because her head was full of worry. The other teachers and students at school also noticed that Sora, Nina and Riku were missing. Some of them even noticed the wanted posters of Sora in the streets, but none of them told Kairi, although she suspected that she knew something.

When Kairi read Sora's letter, she had a mix of emotions. She was relieved to hear that Sora and Nina were still alive and that it was unlikely that Wyndia would not be invaded. She was obviously worried about Riku – if he did not escape with Sora, then something must have happened to him…but what? She dreaded to think. Kairi was also uncertain about whether Sora and Nina would make it out of the city without being discovered. However, she could do nothing……except hope and pray that she would see her friends again.

The final part '_Thinking of you, always_' made her smile. There was something about that line that touched her. It gave her a warm feeling, and a little flutter in her heart. She put the letter in the chest of drawers beside her bed and then went back to bed…

An hour or so later, Miss Trepe came to visit her. She had done so frequently, during the break times or in the evenings when she did not have pupils to teach. This did not bother Kairi at all. She liked Miss Trepe. Although she was very firm and could easily get very annoyed if there was the slightest sign of disruption in her class, she was a compassionate young woman, who could easily interact with most of the students, as she was still in her early twenties. The fact that she visited Kairi frequently to her room made it obvious to Kairi that she was worried about her.

Miss Trepe came up with some coffee and a couple of biscuits. Kairi took them gratefully. She felt a little better now that she knew that Sora and Nina were safe….or at least they were the day before. During the past few days, Kairi ate little, because she did not feel hungry. However, that evening, she ate all the biscuits that Miss Trepe bought her.

"Well, at least you have your appetite back!" Miss Trepe laughed in a friendly way.

"Yeah…..thank, Miss Trepe," Kairi said, still munching her last biscuit.

Miss Trepe fell silent for a few minutes. "Kairi, the headmaster wants to see you…" she then said after Kairi had finished her biscuit.

"The headmaster? Am I in trouble?" Kairi asked suddenly, fearing that she might have been discovered.

Miss Trepe shook her head. "I don't know," was her answer. "I don't think so, but…." There was a tone in Miss Trepe's voice that told Kairi that whatever Mr Argul wanted, it could not be good. Miss Trepe did not like Mr Argul either. In fact, most of the school, even some of the teachers, were suspicious of him, especially as he spent most of his time hanging about with rather sinister looking people from the Suverian Empire.

"Um….when does he want to see me?"

"As soon as possible."

Kairi insisted Miss Trepe that she was well enough to go to the headmaster's office. She would go straight back to bed afterwards, anyway. As she walked down the long corridor to Mr Argul's office, her heart started to thump quickly. She was very anxious to know what Mr Argul wanted, but also nervous at the same time.

* * *

Kairi approached the door saying 'Headmaster' at the top. She slowly moved her fist towards the door, still feeling very tense. There was this feeling inside her that something was going to happen…..and this something was not going to be good…. 

Kairi knocked three times on the door. "Enter," Mr Argul's voice could be heard from the other side of the door. Slowly, the girl turned the door handle and went inside…….

* * *

_To be continued…_

**Yeah, Yuna's magic circles ARE based on Nina's glyph spells from Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter.**

**Thanks to the following reviewers….**

**Airess – Yeah, Zidane is a bit unlucky, not being able to go with Nina! I just had to put something like that there, just to confirm that Zidane's personality is similar to the one he had in FF 9 – most or the FF, KH and BOF characters I wanted to put their original personalities in (apart from Nina and Ryu, as all the Ninas in the previous BOF games had different personalities, and none of the Ryus, in my opinion, had much personality). And Riku? Well, that will be explained…..later. **

**Now, not only do I apologise for the delay in the update but I also apologise for the fact that I won't be updating again in a while…..as I have my AS exams….but I might update in the half term! Please read and review!**


	6. 6 Another key

**Disclaimer: Do I have to repeat myself? I don't own Final Fantasy, Breath of Fire or Kingdom Hearts. BOF belongs to Capcom and FF and KH belong to Square-Enix. If I did own them, then Deis would appear in Dragon Quarter and Riku would have made more Kingdom Hearts appearances.**

**Anyway, I haven't been able to update much because of exams. So, to compromise, I have sent in two (yes, two!) chapters! Aren't you guys lucky?**

**Well, that's my little speech for the chapter done. Enjoy the next two parts of this fic! **

_He sat, crouched behind a curtain…waiting until the two young blond men were out of sight. When the coast was clear, he stepped behind the curtain. They did not look like members of the Empire…but still, he had to be cautious._

_Riku slowly came out from his hiding place and quietly made his way down the corridor. Where were Sora and Nina? They were supposed to return to the storage room in two hours! The boy looked at his watch. It was nearly three hours since he had last seen his friends. Sora did say tell him to look for them if they were not back in two hours. Therefore, it was okay for him to go and look for them now, wasn't it?_

_Riku crept down the corridor, his stick in his hand. He knew that it was probably not a good enough weapon to fight against a bunch of guards with guns, if he ever did get into that situation, but what else could he use that was more threatening? _

_He heard voices coming down the corridor. He looked around for a place to hide and realised that he had to resort to the curtains again. _

_Peering through the curtains, he saw Mr Argul walking with a tall blond man in his mid-twenties. Riku had never seen him before…whoever it was, he looked like a general of some sort. _

"_It's alright, Bosch…" Mr Argul said to the general. "We have two men guarding the dragon. If there are indeed intruders, then they will no longer be able to get to the dragon, will they?"_

"…_I guess not, Sir," the general grumbled. _

"_Now…don't give me that look, Bosch. As I told you, you need some sleep. You have had a hard day…" and with that, Mr Argul turned and made his way down the corridor._

_When Mr Argul was out of sight and hearing, Bosch cursed and spat on the ground._

"_How dare he talk to me like that! I, Bosch, of the well-respected De'Ver family, I who have risen high in the ranks of the Suverian army to become a general, I who have won the utmost respect of the Empress Surenka and have become betrothed to her stepdaughter! I will not tolerate that kind of behaviour!" _

_Geez…what a loser, Riku thought. How the hell did he win the respect of the Empress with that attitude?_

_Scowling, Bosch turned to follow Mr Argul. He walked two or three steps…and then stopped. He looked around._

"…_it's that smell again," Bosch said loudly to himself. "Where is it coming from?" He turned towards the curtain._

_Oh, crap, Riku thought. He was in for it now. What could he do? Riku quickly looked out of the window in desperation. There was no way he could climb out. It was too dark to see how far he could climb down. And what if somebody else saw him?_

_Bosch walked slowly towards the curtain, his rapier in his right hand. He grabbed the curtain and pulled it open instantly._

_Riku froze. _

_An evil grin spread across Bosch's face. "Hmm…I think we've found our intruder."_

* * *

_Two days before Sora left Treno…_

"So, there was an intruder?" Mr Argul asked Bosch, two days after Sora and Nina had rescued Ryu from the castle.

"Yeah, some stupid kid," Bosch smirked. "Silver hair, in his mid teens. Hiding behind the curtain."

Mr Argul looked thoughtful. Silver hair…in mid teens…sounded somewhat familiar to him.

"He smelt really bad as well, as if he had been in the sewers!" Bosch said, with a mocking laugh.

"….and he was alone?"

"I found him alone. Whether he had companions elsewhere in the castle or not is a mystery to me, but I intend to find out now."

It had been two days since Riku was discovered by Bosch. However, Bosch did not have the time to talk to him as he was too busy sending out scouts to look for that boy with the Keyblade. Bosch wondered if that silver-haired kid knew anything about him.

"Well, don't kill accidentally him, Bosch. He might have important information on not only the dragon's wherebouts, but also that of the two Keyblade Warriors'" Mr Argul told him firmly.

Bosch nodded.

"Don't forget, the Empress will be most displeased with us when she finds out that the dragon is missing," Mr Argul pointed out.

"Yes, she certainly _is _displeased, Jarves," a female voice called from behind them.

Mr Argul and Bosch instantly turned around. Standing before them was a tall young and incredibly beautiful woman. Her long silky blue hair fell down to her waist. She wore a long white dress with a gold pendant around her neck. The woman was slim and dainty looking. Her eyes were a mysterious red colour, which was glaring right at them.

"Your majesty!" Mr Argul cried before bowing down to the woman. "I did not realise that you were here!" Bosch also bowed down to the woman in respect.

"You never realise when I'm there, Jarves," the woman muttered. "Anyway, from what I have overheard, our little dragon has escaped."

Mr Argul lowered his head. "I am sorry, your Majesty."

"Sorry? Is that all you can say?" the Empress asked him in a stern voice. "Didn't you have the entrance well-guarded?"

"I am afraid that somebody had discovered our secret entrance, Empress," Mr Argul replied. "When we returned, we found the passageway open, but the dragon was still there. I left two well-trained guards in front of the entrance but when I returned to them, they were unconscious."

The woman started cursing at Mr Argul. Mr Argul looked down at the floor in regret. Bosch smiled. It was now _his _turn to say something.

"Your majesty, do not fret, we still _may_ be able to locate the dragon……and even a Keyblade Warrior," he declared.

The Empress turned around.

"The night the dragon disappeared, I discovered somebody who had sneaked into the castle."

"Really, Bosch? Who was this?"

"It was a boy……silver hair, aquamarine eyes. Looked around sixteen or seventeen."

The Empress looked at Bosch. "And you suppose…..this boy has some connection with the dragon and the Keyblade Warrior?"

Bosch nodded.

"Well, have you found any out information from him yet?"

"I intend to now, your Majesty."

The Empress smiled. "Well, go then," she ordered. "Find out as much as you can from him."

"Be careful with him, Bosch," Mr Argul warned him. Bosch sneered at him.

"He has a point, Bosch," the Empress added. "We won't find out anything if you kill him. I know how you used to treat the dragon. Maybe you scared the dragon off."

Bosch would have punched her instantly if she were not the Empress. Instead, though, he gave both her and Mr Argul a look of anger before departing.

* * *

It was a dark, cold and murky cell. The walls were of a dark stone colour, just like the rest of the castle. The floor was a hard, gravel-covered surface. Therefore, Riku could not sleep without waking up with scratches and sores. Although he had only spent two nights in the cell, it felt like weeks. Nobody had come to him, save the jailer to give him food.

And so Riku remained in his small, dark and lonely cell, reflecting on what had happened. How could he be so stupid, sneaking into the castle like that! Why could he not write to the king of Wyndia instead of involve his friends in an incredibly dangerous mission to uncover the darkest secrets of the most powerful kingdom in the world?

Well, he found out one thing – there _was _a dragon, somewhere in the castle. He was not sure where, though.

Just then, the door had opened and Bosch stepped in, with that evil grin on his face that Riku saw two nights previously. His eyes were fixed on Riku, telling him that whatever he wanted, it was not going to be good. Finally, Bosch spoke.

"Well, well…..a bit dark and cold in here, isn't it?"

Riku could tell that this was not an expression of sympathy and gave Bosch a cold glare.

"You know, it wasn't very smart of you to come sneaking into the castle like that," Bosch taunted at Riku before suddenly grabbing him and thrusting him against the hard stone wall. He then slapped the boy.

"Well, what did you find out, then?" Bosch sneered before then dropping Riku to the ground. "What did you discover when you went on your little adventure?"

Riku did not answer. He was still recovering from the shock of being pressed against the wall (he was surprised that Bosch had not broken his spine with a such a force) and the sharp pain on his face.

"Well, answer me, you punk!" Bosch shouted.

"What the….hell…."

"I can make it worse if you don't give me a decent answer, boy!" Bosch told him. "I know what you've been up to…..okay, I'll give you another question – where's the dragon?"

He said 'where'.

"You and a few others came here two nights ago…..and that same night, something precious to the Empire went missing."

"Something precious…..the dragon?"

Bosch smirked. "Ah…so you _do _know about the dragon, then? Well then, tell me where he is!"

The dragon has disappeared? To where? Whatever happened to it, this was good news to Riku….maybe the Empire will not attack Wyndia after all….

"WHERE IS THE DRAGON, BOY?"

Mr Argul suddenly came walking in. "I told you, Bosch……don't be too hard on…." He stopped the moment he saw Riku.

"W-well…….good lord! That's…..is that you, Riku?"

Riku recognised Mr Argul's voice instantly and looked up at him.

"You know this brat?" Bosch asked Mr Argul.

"He is one of my students," Mr Argul answered. "He and his friends went missing two days ago. One of them was the Princess of Wyndia and the other was the Keyblade Warrior, Sora."

Sora and Nina had escaped? Well, at least they were safe, Riku thought.

"Oh," Bosch said, before turning back to Riku. "Well, Sir Argul, the boy won't give me a decent answer as to where the dragon is. I am sure he knows……the Keyblade Warrior was last seen with the dragon, when Scarlet found them yesterday."

Mr Argul bent over to Riku. "Riku, if you answer our questions, then you can return to school and we can hush up this incident once and for all." He smiled in his rather sinister way which Riku really did not like.

"…I don't know, sir," Riku was finally able to answer.

Bosch kicked him where it hurts, causing Riku to groan in pain. "Don't lie, kid! Your friends disappeared along with the dragon! Now, I am going to tell you this – you must be pretty brave – and stupid – to lie to the great General Bosch!"

"Stupid?" Mr Argul asked. "Riku's one of the smartest boys in his class. Stubborn, yes….but certainly not stupid. Especially as he and his friends have found a way to sneak into the castle without the guards knowing about it."

Bosch decided to ignore this comment and turned to Riku. "Now, tell me for the last time – where is the dragon?"

"And I'll tell you again – I don't know!" Riku nearly shouted. With that response, Bosch motioned his hands and Riku cried out in pain as he was hit with bolts of lightning.

"Bosch, what did I say…" Mr Argul began.

Bosch continued to ignore him and started to motion his hands. Within moments, Riku found himself being hit with a ball of fire. Bosch started to laugh, but only for a few seconds…

His laughter was stopped when something incredibly sharp slashed across his stomach, causing him to step back. He found that blood was dripping from his clothes. Whatever had swiped at him, it had hurt him so much that he fell onto his knees.

"….Wh….what happened…..Sir Argul…..did you….." Bosch did not finish his sentence. As he looked up, he saw something that made him gasp in horror.

Riku was standing up, with a look of rage in his eyes. He was holding something in his hand….it was long, black, with black handles at the side……and shaped like a key….

* * *

"The boy had what?"

The Empress was talking to Mr Argul, in the Grand Hall. She was sitting on one of the wooden chairs at the large table. Mr Argul was sitting next to her.

"A black key, your Majesty," Mr Argul replied. "It had magically appeared into his hands when Bosch attacked him."

The Empress smiled at this. "And….this boy….did he also disintegrate the Slave Collar?"

"No, he didn't your Majesty," Scarlet said. She was sitting on the other side of the Empress. "That was another boy. A boy with brown spiky hair and a _silver _key who was with Princess Nina of Wyndia."

"Did you ask the rebel that you captured in Treno about the boy with the silver key, Scarlet?"

"Not yet, your Majesty….but I intend to this evening…"

The Empress decided to forget about Locke for the moment. "So….. this boy…the one that freed the dragon… goes by the name 'Sora', doesn't he?"

"He certainly does," was Scarlet's reply. "At least, that is what the Princess of Wyndia called him."

Mr Argul nodded. It was certainly Sora, the boy whom he accepted Sir Argul's school. So…….Riku and Sora, two of the five keys that he had been searching for years, had been studying at his school all the time – and he did not know! Mr Argul would have laughed at this, if he were not in a meeting with the Empress.

The Empress looked thoughtful. At last, she knew the identities of the two Keyblade Warriors. And she had caught one of them already. Now, all she needed to do was to find Sora…….and three summoners….

"Your majesty," Scarlet said. "Shouldn't we use that spare slave collar on Riku? Just so that he won't escape…"

The Empress shook her head. "It won't work, Scarlet. That collar only works on dragons. But I see your point…..now that we have one Keyblade Warrior, we can't have him running away, can we?"

"I think I have an idea, my dear Empress," Mr Argul said thoughtfully.

The Empress turned to him. "You have? Are you sure it will work? We don't want another screw-up like you did when the dragon disappeared, Jarves."

"I assure you, your Majesty, that this time I will not make a mistake," Mr Argul answered him. "You see, although Riku lives in Wyndia, he is not a Wyndian or a member of the winged tribe, for that matter."

"Oh, and what does that have to do with your plan?" The Empress asked, puzzled.

"Well, you see, Riku was originally from the Suverian Empire himself, but he left his home in the village Takerin at quite a young age…"

* * *

"So, where are you from?" Sora asked Yuna.

"Well…..at the moment, I live in the city of Bevelle at the moment," she replied. "But I travel a lot, so I don't stay in the same place more than three years or so. Hopefully, that will change soon, however, when I get married."

They were still walking on the road. It was three hours since they had left the bandit forest. They left Treno at midday and the sun was beginning to come down.

"We should be in the town soon," Zidane told them. "I guess that we get a boat tomorrow morning."

"Agreed," Nina said. "I am getting really tired."

"Yeah, and I don't know if Ryu is gonna handle the journey, either," Zidane added as he was looking at Ryu.

"I'm okay," Ryu said.

"Really, Ryu? Well, to tell the truth, you don't _look_ tired – but when I was your age, I would have probably passed out by now, with the distance we've been walking!"

Ryu was unsure what he meant.

"Hey, why are you staring at me like that?" Zidane protested. "It was a compliment!"

A compliment. This made Ryu feel uneasy. It was not that he did not like what Zidane said, but….nobody had talked to him like that before….

* * *

The town of Lyp was not much bigger than a village. It consisted of groups of wooden houses, huddled together. Zidane told the others that he knew that there was an inn, as he had been here before many times. Zidane lived in Treno….or he used to, until his hideout was discovered.

As Sora gazed at the fishing boats, he reminded himself of the fishing boats that used to harbour in his town. They would set sail every day, out to sea to collect fish, and then returning to the harbour in the evening

He was not keen on fishing, but the thought of the boats made Sora feel happy. He remembered sitting on the pier with Kairi, watching the boats come in and out. Sora knew that Kairi would have received his letter by now. He really hoped that she was not angry with him.

"Come on, daydreamer! Are you going to make us wait for you?" Nina called out to him. Sora jumped and saw that she and the others were standing outside a rather large wooden house, with a sign on the door which said 'Lyp Hotel'. He ran up to them and they went to the inn…..

_To be continued…_

**Okay, I know that the sections with Sora, Ryu and the others were short. They'll get a bigger section next time! Read and review! Flames are welcome!**

**Wow, another reviewer! Thanks Dragonien and Shikamaru! Don't worry, I am not abandoning this fanfic! I was just waiting for at least one more review in order to update.**


	7. 7 Lyp

**Disclaimer: The same as the previous chapters. KH and FF belong to Square-Enix. BOF belongs to Capcom.**

**Well, I said that I was sending in two chapters - here is Chapter 7! Enjoy!**

Although Lyp was not a large town, it attracted many visitors, especially those who wanted to get off the Southern Continent. Therefore, the inn was crowded, as usual. However, Zidane managed to reserve rooms – one for himself, Sora and Ryu and another for Yuna and Nina. The boys and the girls separated when they were given their keys.

* * *

"Ah…at last!" Nina fell back on the small bed which was covered with a green quilt. She stretched her wings.

"I really need to go shopping," she sighed. "I don't know how long I'm going to be on the boat for!"

Yuna smiled and sat down on the bed.

"Are you going to go down to dinner?" Nina asked her, still lying on her bed.

"I am not really hungry, but I don't mind coming down for a bite to eat, your Highness!" Yuna said.

"What?" Nina instantly sat up. "What…..did you call me?"

Yuna gave her an apologetic look. "Sorry….it's just….." She was not sure how to say this. "….I was……in Treno not that long ago….and…..I….um……..I…..saw…some posters…."

Nina lowered her head. So…..Yuna knew. Was she going to turn them in?

"………and….Sora…..he has a key, doesn't he?"

Nina said nothing.

"…..I don't want to turn you in, Princess Nina…." Yuna said unhappily. "Really, I don't….."

Maybe Ryu was right, Nina said to herself. Maybe they should not have taken Yuna with them.

* * *

Nina told Zidane what she had heard from Yuna. Zidane understood why Nina was suspicious of Yuna, but he still disagreed.

"Just because she knows about us, it doesn't mean that she'll contact the Empire," Zidane assured Nina.

"How do you know?" Nina asked him, not convinced at all.

"Nina, not everyone is loyal to the Empire," Zidane shrugged. "You know that as well as I do."

Even Nina had to agree with this. Suveria had conquered many territories in the past, and even at this present time, many people still resented them for doing so. Whether Yuna would resent the Empire or not, she did not know. She had never asked.

"Besides, we've escaped the city, now….they're gonna look for us elsewhere, now," Zidane said. "That means…..we'll probably be hunted, wherever we are. I know that's not pleasant to think of…..but that doesn't mean that the whole world is against us."

Nina nodded, but she was still uncertain about what Yuna had said. Whether she wanted to turn them in or not, there was something that that Yuna had desired from her four new friends.

"Look, I'll talk to her," Zidane suggested. "Don't worry about it for now. Why don't you take a walk?"

* * *

Zidane went to Yuna and Nina's bedroom. Only Yuna was there. She was sitting on her bed, staring at a little photo frame that she had.

"Oh, sorry….was I disturbing you?" Zidane asked. "The door was open."

Yuna shook her head. She had not talked to Nina since that conversation. The princess had decided to leave the room, just saying, "I need to go for a walk", but Yuna knew that Nina really left because she was not sure if she could trust her.

"Are you all right?"

"Oh, I'm fine," Yuna said politely. "I'm just a little tired, after all."

"That's okay…..hey, is that a picture of your fiancé?"

The photograph was of Yuna sitting side by side with a man. This man had short blond hair. His eyes were a blue colour. The man wore a yellow jacket with a hood, blue shorts and grey trainers. He had his arm around Yuna, who had her head rested on his shoulder.

"Is that your fiancé?" Zidane asked, interested.

"Yes……that's Tidus," Yuna answered fondly. "That was the evening of our engagement."

Zidane stared at the picture with interest. He did not know Tidus very well, but just by looking at the picture, the affection that they seemed to show told him that they made a very good couple.

"So….are you gonna get married soon?"

"Hopefully…..a few days after I meet him in Luca," Yuna said enthusiastically. "It won't be much of a big wedding, though. His family will be there, but mine won't…"

"Your family won't be there? That's a pity," Zidane replied, sadly.

Yuna shrugged. "It's okay, Zidane….I don't know who my family were anyway."

"Huh?"

Yuna then told Zidane the long story of her life. Her past was a very unhappy one. She had never met her real family, and did not know where she came from. Yuna had grown up in various places – she had to move from town to town every few years or so and therefore never had the chance to develop a close relationship between each foster family she had met.

The reason for this was the Empire. For years, they had been trying to locate her, for reasons that she was afraid of telling Zidane.

"Why won't you tell me?" Zidane asked, puzzled.

"It's really difficult to explain," the girl replied. "It would be easier if I showed you, but I can't do it here. It's not safe."

"Um…okay," Zidane answered, wondering what this reason was and why Yuna could not tell him. Whatever it was, he could tell that she was not lying. There was some sort of truth and desperation in her eyes. He needed her help…..sorry, the help of the Returners, Zidane corrected himself.

* * *

_Two days earlier…_

"Okay, here are your quarters for the next few nights," the guard said.

Riku was led to one of the guest bedrooms in the Treno castle. The room was warmer than most of the others in the castle. There was a huge grey furry rug laid out in front of a huge fireplace, which was already set alight. At the other end of the room was a large wooden four poster bed covered with red blankets.

"She has requested that you get washed and dressed before visiting her," the guard said blankly before leaving.

Riku nodded as the guard left.

He gazed at the room around him. The fact that the Empress had given him a comfortable looking room with a huge bed did not bring him much joy. He was told by Mr Argul about his key……and that the Empire wanted him to perform a little task for them – well, Mr Argul called it 'little'. In exchange, they had promised four things – first that Sora would not be harmed in any way. Second, Sora would be released after he had done his job for the Empire. Third, the Empire leave Nina alone – the Empire were not after her and therefore, she should have nothing to do with their plans. The fourth promise…….had come to him as a complete shock. The Empire had promised to give him something which he had wanted so desperately……..

Riku was unsure why he was doing this. Helping the Empire who had attacked his hometown in Wyndia? Helping them capture his best friend? What was he thinking? On the other hand, with Sora's life on the line, and Nina's as well…..he had little choice anyway.

The bathroom was behind the door on the other side of the room. Riku was glad that the bathroom was there. He has last washed himself the day he returned to school, but he was not able to do anything like that in prison. He was insulted when Bosch told him that he stank but he understood that – he had managed to get into the castle via the sewers!

Riku grabbed the towel and went into the bathroom….

* * *

"So, finally you've arrived!" Bosch exclaimed with irritation.

"I never said that I would hurry up," a voice snarled at him.

Riku stepped out of the darkness in the corridor. It was now late at night. He had changed out of his yellow shirt and blue trousers into a black shirt with black trousers, and a black coat with silver lining which came with a hood.

"Geez…..what's the hell with the gothic gear?" Bosch asked. "Freak………oh well, at least you don't smell anymore!"

Riku ignored him. "Where do I find the Empress?" he requested.

Bosch pointed down the corridor and Riku started to walk in that direction. Bosch followed him. After a few minutes silence, Bosch spoke.

"So….from what I've heard, you yourself are from the Suverian Empire, are you not?"

Riku turned to him. "Yeah…..and?"

Bosch smiled. "You know, Suveria is a powerful country. For years, it has stood as the strongest Empire in the world, occupying many territories and being the country with the most advanced technology. Yet, it is still missing something…."

"Missing something?"

"Something very important to us…..or at least, important to the Empress Surenka…..something that she has been desperately searching for a great many years…."

"Me and Sora, right?"

"Well, partly…..but.." Bosch looked at him with a smirk. "There are others…not Keyblade Warriors, but others who are special to us….who are keys….keys that we need to find in order to fulfil our plan….. you are doing so much good for your country, boy. Remember that."

However, from what Bosch could tell, Riku did not seem to be affected by this compliment of his. The boy just remained silent. Bosch started to get annoyed.

"Well, kiddo…..aren't you happy? That you are performing such a noble cause for your tribe?"

Riku shrugged. "Do I care? I'm not interested in what the Suverian Empire wants. All I care about is completing my task in exchange for what you guys have promised me. I'm gonna quit afterwards."

Bosch nodded. "Fine by us, as long as you keep to _your _side of the bargain……don't forget, the safety of your friends depends on your loyalty…"

* * *

They would get a boat the next day. Zidane had organised that. Therefore, all they needed to do was wake up at seven in the morning.

Sora sat in his hotel room. There was nothing much to do until dinner. Ryu had taken the left bed, while Sora was going to sleep on the middle bed and Zidane the right bed. The blue haired boy was busy looking at his surroundings and swinging his legs on the bedside. Sora still could not figure out who Ryu was. He knew that he was imprisoned by the Empire for some strange reason, but he did not know what. Sora was also aware of Ryu's bright red eyes. Sora had never seen anybody with red eyes before….well, one thing was for certain. This child was certainly not from around this part of the world.

There were many different tribes around the world, all with their different features. There were the Worens, who were known for their cat features – Worens could have whiskers or cat ears but they always had tails. The Wyndians were known for their long white wings and their ability to fly. Additionally, there were other tribes such as the doggy-like grassrunners and the moogles, who were cute little kittens with bat wings. Sora had also heard of a civilisation of people called the Al Bhed, who were experts at machinery and had weird green eyes with swirling pupils. They were so good with machines that they were said to be more advanced than even the great Suverian Empire itself. However, there were not many Al Bhed to dominate the world with its technology.

Besides, Ryu did not seem to come from any of these tribes. He certainly was not an Al Bhed, as their funny eyes were green, not red.

"Uh…Ryu.."

Ryu turned around to look at Sora.

"Can I ask you something?"

"What?" The small boy eyed his companion with suspicion.

"Um……where are you from?"

The boy stared at the floor for a few minutes. Why was he being so quiet? Was he reluctant to tell Sora?

"You….not gonna tell me?"

The boy paused for a second, before taking a deep breath and then telling him a very definite "No."

Sora was surprised by Ryu's answer. Why was Ryu so reluctant to tell him?

"What's wrong?" Ryu asked. "Did I say anything wrong?"

"Um…..well……since we don't know where you come from, it's gonna be a little difficult to track down your family."

"Just as well then," Ryu shrugged.

"Huh? Don't you…._want_ to see your family again?" Sora asked, shocked at the boy's words.

Ryu shook his head. Sora gave up. He could not think of a reason why Ryu would not want to be reunited with his parents. Sora would do _anything _in order to get the chance to see his family again. On the other hand, Sora knew that he was very close to his parents and he told them everything…..well, everything until he left them. He never told them _anything_ now, since he was unable to communicate with them in any form whatsoever, as he did not know where they lived now. Ryu may not even get on with his family. He did not know….and did not dare ask, either.

* * *

"Ugh…."

Sora stood over the side of the boat, staring down the waves below.

"Geez…..you're not sick again, are you?" Nina called out to him.

Sora ignored her and continued to bend his head over the water.

"Oh….dear….is he like this all the time?" Yuna asked Nina, feeling sorry for Sora.

Nina nodded. "He gets sick on the trains as well." She then left to join Ryu, who was on the other side of the deck.

They had made it to the boat at the right time. Zidane had the tickets and they boarded the ship with few problems. It would take a week to reach Luca, the city settled at the bottom of the North-Western Continent. Sora wondered if he could stand a week, with the boat rocking forwards and backwards all the time.

Ryu was staring at the sky and the seagulls. He turned around to see Nina standing beside him.

"You seem fascinated by the seagulls," she laughed.

Ryu looked up at her nervously.

"Hey, it's okay, Ryu. There's nothing wrong in that," Nina smiled. She opened up her wings and floated up to the edge of the boat. "Don't worry, I won't fall." Being a Wyndian, Nina was not at all afraid of heights. In fact, she quite enjoyed gazing at views from high above, no matter where they were.

Nina continued to stare up at the sky. "Do you ever wish that you could fly as high as those birds?" she asked. "I wish I could…..and go anywhere I wanted. Just to get out of my problems."

She jumped back down to the wooden deck.

"Us Wyndians…..we don't grow wings until we reached a certain age. I certainly didn't get mine until I was ten," Nina told him thoughtfully. "I used to dream as a little girl of having the ability to fly and go anywhere in the world."

Nina started to laugh.

"Well, I partly got my wish anyway. I have my wings and I can fly……but not where I wish." She sighed. "Being a princess is a real bummer."

Ryu was not listening anymore. He was not even looking at the seagulls. Nina noticed this.

"Sorry, am I boring you?" she asked.

Ryu did not answer. Instead, he pointed to the sky. Nina looked in his direction.

Far ahead, she could just see a huge flying aircraft. It was a red colour, but Nina could tell that it was a Suverian airship. As it moved closer, she could see Suveria's symbol depicted on the side of the airship – a silver crown.

* * *

Bosch watched the vessel from the control room of the airship. Standing beside him was a young woman. She was slightly taller than Bosch. Her long black hair was tied into a ponytail behind her huge pointy ears. She wore a purple jacket and purple leggings, complete with brown boots. Her purple bushy fox tail swayed behind her.

The woman looked down at the boat.

"General Bosch….are you sure that you want to attack an entire ship just for one person?" the woman asked, with a look of slight horror in her face.

"We'll only come to that method if they refuse to give the boy up," Bosch replied, grinning evilly.

The woman stared at him, not knowing how to react. She knew that what Bosch was planning was morally wrong, but he was one of the top-ranking generals in the Suverian army and she was only a captain – therefore, it was not her position to try and stop him. She walked back to the cabins, full of disgust. Bosch ignored her, and instead continued to stare at the boat on the ocean, carefully planning his methods to try and bring Sora on board the ship…

_To be continued._

**Okay, that was the seventh chapter! Read and review - That's why the fanfic is there! If you don't I will make an incredibly short chapter next time!**


	8. 8 Lost on an island

**Disclaimer: The same as the previous chapters. KH and FF belong to Square-Enix. BOF belongs to Capcom.**

**Good lord….how many reviews have I got this time? Wow….I'm loved I'm loved I'm loved!**

"Well, are you sure that they are on that ship?" Bosch asked Riku.

Riku nodded. He knew that Sora was on the ship. He could feel his presence close by.

"Yeah, I'm sure," he answered truthfully.

Bosch decided that the best chance that he could take was to check the boat. If they were there, then he could easily ask them to hand over Sora. And if they did not…..then he could sink the ship anyway, and pretend that it was destroyed by a storm. That would not be too difficult. If Sora was on the ship, then he would survived. His powers would protect him.

Riku suspected the thoughtful and sinister look on Bosch's face and could that he was planning something. He was not stupid. "What are you gonna do?" he asked, suspicious.

"Oh, you will see," Bosch answered in a hostile tone before walking towards the doorway. However, Riku was quick to block him.

"Get out of my way!" Bosch shouted.

Riku had his Keyblade pointed right at Bosch's throat.

"If you _dare _do anything to Sora or Nina, then I will…."

Bosch just smiled. "Oh, Sora will survive…..don't forget….it was his Keyblade that saved him from the dragon…..and it will be his Keyblade that would save him from anything that….happens to the ship. But Princess Nina…..I am not sure about…."

"What do you mean, you are not sure about Nina?" Riku growled.

The general then looked at his guards. "Take care of him," he ordered.

Three guards then moved towards Riku. Two of them grabbed his arms, making him drop his Keyblade. The third pointed a gun at the silver-haired youth's head. He pulled the trigger. The boy staggered and slowly fell to the ground.

Just then, the dark-haired woman in purple entered the room. She noticed Riku's body on the floor.

"Sir…..what did you…"

"It's okay, he's not dead, Captain Ursula," Bosch replied. "It was only a tranquilliser gun. We can't kill him just yet…..not until he's completed _his_ part of the bargain…"

* * *

They saw the airship descend. Zidane, Sora and Yuna noticed it as well. 

"You don't think that we've been discovered, do you?" Sora asked, worried.

"I don't know," Zidane said.

The airship landed on the water right beside the boat. The people on the boat crowded together on the deck to see what was going on. The captain stopped the boat's engine and ran outside to see what was going on.

Nina floated a few inches above the ground in order to look ahead, but the airship was so far away that she could barely see.

"Do you wanna use these?" Zidane held out a pair of binoculars. Nina thanked him and took them.

Nina inspected the ship. It was certainly a Suverian airship. The symbols told her so. Looking into the distance, she could see a small window at the front of the airship. Behind the window were two people. One of them Nina could make out to be a tall woman in a purple suit. Who could she be? A captain, maybe? The other…..a man in black trousers…..blue cloak and blue tunic…..blond hair…..could it be…..

Nina descended.

"What's wrong, Nina?" Sora asked, as he trapped inside the crowd and therefore could not see.

"I….it's them…" Nina gasped.

Suddenly, a voice called out through the speakers. It was not the captain's voice….but General Bosch's.

"Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. This is General Bosch of the Suverian Army speaking."

Sora opened his eyes in shock. Have they been found out?

"What's going on?" Yuna asked, not completely certain what was going on.

"I apologise for interrupting your journey to Luca, but from what I have heard from a few eye witnesses, there are a few suspicious characters on board your ship" Bosch's voice said through the speakers.

Yuna looked at Zidane. "I swear, it wasn't me!" she pleaded, afraid that the others would suddenly turn to her in suspicion, thanks to her talk to Nina the other night.

"It's okay – I believe you," Zidane replied calmly.

The voice continued. "These suspicious characters are four very dangerous criminals – associated with the underground group the Returners."

Heh…..dangerous criminals? Yeah, right. Zidane smiled to himself. He may have robbed a few manor houses…..picked lots of pockets from rich merchants and nobles, which would have caused a lot of annoyance, but they did not cause fatal danger, as far as he was concerned.

"One of them…..is a boy with brown spiky hair and blue eyes who goes by the name of Sora."

Crap, Sora thought. He had to hide somewhere. If anybody on the ship found out who he was, then….

"Another is a girl from the Fae tribe…..who goes under by the name of Nina, the Princess of Wyndia. Take note that this girl is an impostor….posing as the princess in order to think that Wyndia is cooperating with the Returners."

What on earth? Nina thought. How _dare_ he call her an impostor!

"When the real princess has been abducted by the Returners…"

The real princess kidnapped by the Returners? Who would believe such a ridiculous story? Nina said to herself. The crowd started talking to each other, confused about what was going on.

"The third is a boy….a short boy with blue hair and red eyes…..who, like the princess, has also been taken hostage. He was taken from his home in Treno five days ago. His parents are very worried about him."

"We have to get out of here," Ryu whispered. He was standing next to Sora.

Sora nodded. "But how? We're in the middle of an ocean!" he exclaimed.

Ryu was unsure about this. If he was alone, he could probably escape easily. He could just run away, jump into the sea and then escape by flying, but Sora and the others…..they still did not know his secret, and if they found out…..well, Ryu did not know what the consequences would be. It was simply not worth the risk.

"Finally….the forth criminal is a wanted thief who has plundered many of the houses in Treno….stealing many precious valuables…" the voice ranted on

Well, they at least they got me right, Zidane smirked.

"I would advise that you hand these criminals over to the Suverian army….if you are concerned for your safety…"

Sora gulped. Maybe he should give himself up….he was uncertain what Bosch was going to do with the people on the ship if they did not do something but he knew, by what he saw of Bosch so far, that whatever he would do, it would certainly not be good.

"I have established a contact signal between the airship and the boat. Therefore, if you know anything about four people matching the exact description those criminals, then let us know. We will be waiting."

"Hey, who's that kid over there?"

A man randomly pointed to Ryu. A few people turned to see the boy. Ryu turned white.

"Hey….that kid!"

"His eyes!"

"They're red…"

"Outta my way for a second…" The captain pushed his way though the crowd and moved towards Ryu. Before Ryu could run away, the captain grabbed him and stared into the boy's eyes. Ryu struggled.

"It's okay, child….I'm not going to hurt you…" the captain said kindly.

Ryu still tried to free his arm from the captain's grip. Thinking quickly, Yuna walked towards the other side of the boat and closed her eyes.

"Well, you certainly have red eyes," the captain gasped. "What's your name, boy?"

Yuna opened her arms out as if she was praying. A couple of people watched her, wondering what she was doing.

Suddenly, everybody gasped as a huge purple circle began to form around Yuna. She was performing some sort of spell, but Sora did not know what. It was certainly nothing that he had seen before. He knew that she could use Glyph magic, but this definitely not a Glyph spell.

Just then, a huge creature appeared from nowhere. A creature with a pale brown torso and legs, huge glue and graceful wings with golden rings attached to them. It had a long pointy face.

Yuna stroked the animal and then beckoned to her friends. Ryu managed to free himself from the captain's grasp and ran over to Yuna.

"Yuna…..did you….?" He began.

"No time to explain. Just get on!" she ordered, climbing onto the creature's back. She then pulled Ryu up. The monster did not seem to object. Sora, Nina and Zidane followed, also climbing onto the creature's back.

By that time, the rest of the people were watching the Yuna and her friends in amazement as they saw the creature appear and the five companions climb onto its back . The creature did not attack….as the young brown haired girl seemed to have some sort control over it.

"Fly," Yuna whispered to the creature.

The creature floated upwards until it was about twenty feet above the ship. It then turned and north and flew away.

* * *

Bosch was watching the event on the ship involving Sora's escape from his telescope. The mysterious appearance of the strange creature caused him to step back in shock. That creature…..did that girl just summon it? 

Immediately, Bosch put his telescope away and then shouted to the pilot "Follow that monster!"

The airship ascended and turned north.

"Full speed ahead!" Bosch yelled at the top of his voice.

* * *

They had now been flying for ten minutes. Everybody was silent. Yuna felt uncomfortable about revealing her powers too soon, but this was the only escape method that she could think of. Eventually, Zidane was the first to speak.

"Yuna…..this…….is this…..the reason that the Empire's after you?" he asked.

Yuna nodded slowly.

Ryu had been staring thoughtfully at Yuna for the past ten minutes. He knew exactly what Yuna was and why the Empire wanted her and like Sora, he had to make sure that the Empire did not capture her.

"Guys…." Sora suddenly shouted.

Zidane turned around. "Huh? What's wrong, Sora?"

Sora pointed. Behind them, he could see the Suverian airship. It was travelling quite fast…..towards THEM!

"Yuna….they are catching up with us!" he started to panic.

Yuna looked behind her and saw that Sora was right. The ship was following them at quite a speed. She turned towards the creature.

"This is the fastest I can go!" she cried. "If I make Valefor go any faster, he'll get tired!"

* * *

He was catching up with them. Bosch grinned. Ursula, who was standing beside him, frowned. 

"Don't look at me like that, Ursula….it saves us from having to blow up that boat."

Ursula said nothing and walked away.

Bosch shut his eyes and started to move his hands. Bosch was a powerful magician...powerful enough to target spells at far away distances- as long as they were in his line of sight.

* * *

Valefor howled and jerked as Bosch's fire spell hit him, causing Sora to fall off. Sora, however, was saved by Zidane who managed to grab his wrist. Sora was now hanging over sixty feet or so above the ocean, with Zidane holding onto him tightly. 

Another fireball hit Valefor, who swayed sideways.

"Yuna, is there anything we can do?" Nina screamed. Yuna could not answer. She did not know what to do. Valefor was going slowly now. Unlike the other creature she could summon, Valefor was not very strong and could not attack. On the other hand, Yuna could see land ahead of her. It must be an island…..all she could do was hope that she could reach that island…

Now, it was a wave of lightning that hit not only Valefor, but Zidane, Ryu, Yuna and Nina as well.

Because of the shock from the lightning, Zidane accidentally let go of Sora's hand, causing him to fall….

However, whether Sora reached the ocean or not, he did not know because as he was falling, something extraordinary happened. His key started to glow….and within seconds, he was surrounded by a blinding white light….

* * *

Sora began to stir.

He could feel his fingers digging into something that was soft, but had a rough texture. As his eyes focused, he could see that he was lying on what looked like sand. The sea was just about ten metres away from him. He was on a beach.

Sora's eyes soon focused and he quickly sat up. How did he get here?

As he began to think, he remembered being chased by the airship and being hit by bolts of fire and lightning. Then he was surrounded by a bright light coming from his key….that must have been what saved him.

Sora stood up. Amazingly, he was not hurt, nor could he find any marks that suggested so. At first he was relieved, but after a few seconds a thought came to his head……..what happened to the others?

From what he could remember, Nina, Zidane, Ryu and Yuna were attacked by lightning and the fire. Did they fall off as well? He could not remember.

Sora lowered his head. It was all his fault. If it were not for him, the dragon would not have attacked Wyndia. Riku would not have disappeared. The airship would not have chased the boat or Valefor.

Sora kicked at the sand in anger, but this only brought sand into his eyes, which made him even more frustrated. He cursed loudly and dropped to the floor, staring at the ground.

He heard a growl.

Sora turned around, grabbing his Keyblade which happened to be lying beside him (Sora did not know how it got there, as he had left it in one of the ship cabins inside a bag). Standing about twelve metres away from him was a familiar creature with red legs, red wings and claws on his hands and feet and wings. It had long white hair, and glaring red eyes. Sora recognised the creature instantly.

It was the dragon.

The dragon stared at Sora. It glared at him for a few seconds. To his horror, Sora noticed that he was carrying something……no, someone….it seemed to be a young girl with blond hair. Wyndian wings.

"Nina!" Sora yelled. He suddenly started to walk towards the dragon, his key pointed towards it. The dragon lifted its feet off the ground and floated into the air. Sora was prepared for any attack that the dragon was going to throw at him.

However, to his surprise, the dragon made no attempt to attack him. It remained in the air for a few seconds and then disappeared into the trees ahead. Sora followed the dragon.

* * *

Sora fought his way through the forest, using his Keyblade to cut down grasslands of bracken that stood in his way. His mind was focused on two things – finding that dragon and recovering Nina. He had already lost the dragon, who went deep into the forest and out of sight. 

Eventually, Sora came to a small clearing. He suddenly stopped. Sora had this mysterious feeling that he was not alone. He looked down at the ground. He was standing over a clumped patch of flowers. Flowers of all different colours – red, white, blue, yellow and pink. Sora had never seen these type of flowers before.

"Heeheeheehee!"

Sora turned around. What was that noise? Where did it come from?

But nobody was there. He looked around about four five times, but he could not see anyone. Maybe he was just imagining things.

"Heeheeheehee!"

Sora looked up. He could have sworn that he heard some giggling.

"Who's there?" Sora shouted.

He still could not see anybody, but…

"Heeheeheehee!"

Sora then knew that he was not hallucinating. Someone……_someone_ was there.

"Whoever you are, come out and show yourself!" Sora demanded, holding his key very tightly.

"Hey! He wants to fight us with his Keyblade!" a voice from nowhere said.

"Meanie!" added another.

So…there was more than one of them?

"Who are you guys? Are you with the Empire?" Sora asked. He felt as if he was talking to thin air.

"Hey, Bluebell! He thinks that we're part of the Empire!"

"He sure is a dummy for saying that, Njomo!"

"Yeah, dummy!"

Puzzled, Sora raised his hand to scratch his head. However, his hand reached something long and slightly furry. What the…?

Sora tried to pull this long and slightly furry thing, but it would not come off. The more he tried to pull at it, the more it hurt.

"Heheh….he's trying off his ear!" giggled a voice.

His WHAT?

"What's going on here?" Sora yelled.

Suddenly, he saw sparkles of light appear right before him. A few seconds later, Sora saw himself standing right in front of a small creature, who was about the height of a water bottle. This creature had the body of a human – a naked human. Its blue hair was so long that it reached past its feet. The creature had little fly wings on its back.

"Who…the hell are you?" Sora asked, suspicious of this creature.

The creature just giggled. Sora aimed his Keyblade at the creature. "I said….who the hell are you?"

The creature made a cross face. "The Keyblade Warrior's not a very nice person, Njomo," it muttered.

"Yeah, he isn't nice," the other voice added.

Sora was confused. "Huh? What Keyblade Warrior are you talking about?"

Another creature appeared. Like the first creature, it small and had the body of a naked human and had wings. However, its hair was red, not blue.

"Bluebell, he doesn't know what a Keyblade Warrior is!" the creature chuckled.

"What a dummy!" Bluebell laughed in response.

"Keyblade Warrior? What the hell's goin' on?"

The two creatures stopped laughing and looked at him intently.

"Well, shall we tell him, Njomo?" Bluebell asked his friend.

"Yeah, we'd better….especially after what we've done to his ears!" Njomo giggled in response.

Sora touched the long furry thing on his head again. There was another furry thing on the other side of his head…were they….his ears?

"Wh….what have you done to my ears?" he gasped.

Njomo just continued to laugh hysterically before then suddenly conjuring up a small mirror out of nowhere. "Take a look! Heeheehee!"

Sora screamed.

In the mirror, he could see two long and large……rabbit ears. They were long, with dark brown fur. Bluebell was rolling in the air with laughter.

"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO MY EARS?" Sora yelled.

The two creatures did not answer as they had found this incredibly funny.

"I WARN YOU….YOU DON'T CHANGE ME BACK, THEN.."

"Okay, calm down, Keyblade Warrior," Njomo backed down. "We'll turn you back…if YOU STOP DESTROYING OUR HOME!"

"YEAH, STOP RUINING OUR HOME!" Bluebell yelled.

Sora was confused. "I'm……destroying your home?" he asked, unsure what they meant.

"YEAH, YOU ARE! YOU'RE STANDING ON IT RIGHT NOW, YOU DUMMY!"

Sora looked down at the ground. He was standing on the patch of flowers.

"GET OFF OUR HOME!" Njomo shriked.

Sora quickly moved away from the flowers, confused. "Uh….th-thhose flowers are your home?" he stammered.

Njomo nodded. "Yeah, it's our home – we're fairies and we live in that patch of flowers….and now you've wrecked it, you dummy!"

"I….I'm sorry….I didn't know.."

Sora's ears were finally turned back to normal…..after a couple with 'mistakes' that Bluebell had made when trying to revert them back to human ears.

"Finally…." Sora sighed with relief.

"It's a pity…I liked the mouse ears…" Bluebell sighed in disappointment. "They really suited you…"

"What's THAT supposed to mean?" Sora asked, annoyed. Bluebell just giggled.

"Hey, at least you got your original ears back!" Njomo said in a calm manner. "And our home is saved, Keyblade Warrior!"

Keyblade Warrior….why did they keep calling him that? Sora did not understand. He had better ask.

"Uh….what do you mean by 'Keyblade Warrior'?" he asked, curious.

The two fairies started giggling again. Sora scowled. He decided that he never wanted to meet another fairy again for as long as he lived.

"Hey, Bluebell! He's been carrying that huge key around with him….and yet he does not know what a Keyblade Warrior is!" Njomo squeaked to her friend.

Sora was not amused. "Okay….I'm a Keyblade Warrior…but I don't know what the hell that is….." Sora knew that his key weapon was a Keyblade….Zidane had told him that. However, all he really knew is that the Empire were after him because of this key. What he did not really know was what a Keyblade Warrior actually was. Zidane had never told him….

"Okay….we'll tell you then!" Bluebell chirped optimistically.

Sora sat down beside the flowers, careful not to actually sit _on _them. He did not want another bunny ear incident. The two fairies floated in the air.

"Well, you know that key thing of yours is called a Keyblade, then?" Njomo said.

Sora nodded. "I know that the Empire are interested in me because of this Keyblade…but I don't know why, though…"

Njomo smiled. "Well, then you're gonna find out quite a bit," she stated. She took a deep breath, as if about to give a lecture. "You're weapon is shaped like a key, right?"

Sora nodded.

"Well, a key unlocks doors, doesn't it?" Bluebell then said.

"Don't interrupt!" Njomo told him, annoyed.

"You didn't say anything, dummy!" Bluebell said to her.

"I'm not a dummy!" Njomo shouted, insulted.

"Yes you are!"

"No, I'm not!"

"You guys are _not _helping!" Sora moaned.

"Okay, sorry about that…well, as Bluebell said, a key locks and unlocks doors," Njomo said quickly.

"Yeah…" Sora answered, just catching what Njomo said. "So….I'm special because I have the power to lock and unlock doors?"

"Yeah, but not just any old doors!" Bluebell exclaimed. "The Keyblade Warriors have the ability to unlock _special _doors….doors that hold the deep secrets of the world!"

Unlock doors that hold secrets of the world…….is that what the Empire wish for? To find the Keyblade Warriors to discover more about the world or something like that? Sora remained confused. Just then, a thought came to his head….

"Wait a sec….when you said 'Keyblade Warriors'…..you mean….there's another Keyblade Warrior besides me?"

"Yeah, there is!" Njomo nodded. "But he has a different Keyblade from you.."

"Are the Empire looking for him as well?"

"Yeah….they need both Keyblade Warriors…" Bluebell replied.

"Why?"

"He's asking too many questions.." Njomo giggled.

"Yep, too many questions…" Bluebell laughed.

"Why doesn't he ask the dragon instead?" Njomo randomly suggested. "The dragon would know something, wouldn't he?"

The dragon would know something…dragon…..

Sora jumped up. "SHIT! Nina!" He turned to the two fairies. "Sorry….um…..did you say 'dragon'?"

The fairies nodded.

"Right….hey, did you see a dragon pass by here? I was….um….looking for it…" he started to feel guilt for not helping Nina.

"Yeah…" Bluebell pointed to the left. "He went that way."

Sora started to run in that direction as fast as his legs could carry him.

"Wait!" Njomo called out.

Sora stopped for a second.

"Take this." She gave Sora a stone. It was about the size of Sora's hand…quite large and had many beautiful colours on it.

"It's a fairy drop," Bluebell declared. "You'll need it in order to find your way round the forest.

"Oh…thanks…" Well, that would be useful. He did not know his way around the whole forest. "Um….how does it work?" he asked, looking at the fairy drop.

"Well, where do you think the dragon is?" Njomo asked him. "Heeheeheehee!"

Sora turned around. "Where do I 'think' the dragon is? I don't even know where it wen-"

Njomo and Bluebell had gone. They had just vanished into thin air.

To be continued… 

**Yeah, the tranquilliser gun is one of those type of guns that put enemies to sleep, just like the ones in Metal Gear Solid 2, even though this fanfic has no relation to Metal Gear Solid whatsoever. **

**Anyway, thanks to following reviewers **

**Dragonien and Shikamaru – I see your point. Yes, I am trying to think of an appropriate fight scene involving Sora. Have been for some time – trouble is, I am also trying to fit it into the story. A Ryu dragon morphing scene? Well, wait and see...**

**Flaring Star Sabre – Wow….how many times have you reviewed my fic? Well, in answer to your question, this story is NOT set in the KH, BOF or FF worlds and it is not set in the timeline, either. Therefore, Final Fantasy Yuna will _not_ be the same as the Yuna in my fic. Sorry if I didn't point it out earlier. About the spelling…..was there anything wrong with it? I know I can get a little repetitive with words and I'm no good with paragraphs….as you can see. Yeah, I will put FF characters in it, but only if they fit into the story (eg. as much as I would love to put Paine or Sephiroth in, I won't put them in for any old reason).**

**Airess Byrd – is Yuna a summoner? Well, here is your answer! Anyway, thanks for reviewing!**

**Lily Dragon – Thanks for reviewing! Here's your update!**

**Okay, sorry I haven't updated much…..I'm afraid this is not the good time to write fanfics, as it is the middle of my AS exams, which last about five weeks or so. So please be patient when it comes to updates. Plus, as I have said before, I go to boarding school, and is blocked on the school internet, so I can only send in chapters at the weekends!**


	9. 9 Princess of Suveria

**Disclaimer: FF and KH belong to Square-Enix. BOF belongs to Capcom. I don't own Melodies of Life or Yume no Sukoshi Ato, which belong to Emiro Shiratori and Yoshino Aoki.**

**No, this fanfic is not dead! I know it took a long time to update due to exams and I apologise.**

Sora continued to tread though what appeared to him a never-ending forest. There seemed to be no monsters, which surprised him….perhaps they were deeper in the forest. As he looked ahead, the forest seemed to just continue. There was no pathway and there all there was before him was an endless view of trees ahead of him. The tall green bracken plants did not help either – they only made his journey slower as he had to cut them down with his Keyblade to get through them as they were too tall for him to step on– it was like being in a huge jungle of weeds.

Damn those fairies, Sora thought. First they embarrassed him by magically turning his ears into rabbit ones. Then they tell him that they know why the Empire were hunting him down but then sending him to look for the dragon for answers! (although they _did _hint to him that it was something to do him having the ability to open some sort of special doors which held the world's secrets, he did not feel that this information was helpful enough) They also gave him no help whatsoever in finding the dragon – they only gave him some nice-looking stone (what would a stone do to help him, apart from being worth a hell of a lot of money?). Great help that was! He thought sarcastically.

Special doors….what were these special doors? Doors that held secrets of the world? What did that mean? Sora glanced down at his Keyblade sadly. He wished that he was back at school, fighting with Riku over little things such as who was going to get the ice cream from the school fridge or getting mad at him for winning a competition between the both of them or getting mad at him for having such a cool attitude for losing a competition. He even wished that he was being nagged by Nina to go out to town and help her carry the bags of the thirty garments and matching accessories that Nina would buy from each designer clothes store (being a princess, she could afford that sort of lifestyle – in fact, God knew how many clothes Nina had in her ten or so wardrobes and large chests).

However, one of the things that Sora missed most was talking to to her about how much homework he had or listening to her talk about her day at school, or chatting happily to her friends at school. He missed her cheerful and happy smile that she always put on when she was talking to him or her friends. He missed her dark blue eyes which were always laughing. He missed her happy and enthusiastic laughter as well, when it occured. Sora wished that he could be sitting beside her, even if it was only for a moment..

He suddenly came back to reality. Sora realised that he could not waste his time just complaining about how miserable his life was when one of his best friends was in trouble, perhaps even….no, he did not want to think about that. Nina _was _still alive. She _had_ to be…

But where would he find her? She could be anywhere in this neverending jungle of bracken and trees. All that Sora knew was that she would be with the dragon. However, where did the dragon go?

Suddenly, a feeling came over the spiky-haired brunette. He was not sure what this feeling was, but it told him to turn left. The dragon had headed in that direction – he never saw it go that way, but he knew it did…

Sora began to run. Run as fast as he could, slashing down any tall bracken in his path. He tripped a few times, scratching his legs, but he would get up straight afterwards, not caring about his limbs. Finding the dragon and finding Nina were now the only two things on his mind….

* * *

"_Alone, for a while….I've been searching through the dark…for traces of the love you left inside my lonely heart…"_

She leaned on the white stone balcony of her room, gazing at the deep blue sky. Her long dark brown, almost black, hair, which went down to her waist rested on both her shoulders and her back.

It was the afternoon in the city of Suveria – only two hours before the sun would start to set. Below her, the young girl in the snow white blouse and the long bright orange skirt could see the palace garden. The steep stone steps that lead down to a pebbled pathway, surrounded by a huge lawn. The lawn was so neatly trimmed by the gardeners, that it looked like that nobody had stepped on the grass at all. There were various flower beds scattered all around the lawn – but as it was September, the roses were starting to die. However, as it was the autumn, the apples in the garden were turning red and falling from the trees. The pathway led to a fountain in the middle of the garden, with the statue of an exotic but beautiful woman. This statue of the woman seemed to be wearing almost nothing – apart from a half-top which covered her chest and a short cloth skirt (well, it was obviously not cloth as it was made of stone). Her hands and feet seemed to be covered in some different types of jewels.

This fountain had been built after the former Empress of Suveria had died. She had commissioned it before her death. Charles XI, the late Emperor of Suveria, had married twice. The first was to a young woman named Georgiana, a noblewoman from the Til Alexandros household. The marriage was not very popular in the eyes of many of the Suverian nobles, especially with very high-ranking families such as the De'Vers, for reasons that were unknown even to Garnet herself.

However, despite a few complaints from the noble families, the marriage between Charles XI and Georgiana was a happy one. Unfortunately for them, the marriage only lasted three years, as Georgiana died, giving birth to a little girl, whom the Emperor had named 'Garnet'.

"_To weave by picking up the pieces that remain…."_

The girl stopped singing. It did not work this time.

Normally, if she felt sad or troubled, she would start to sing some of her favourite songs. However, today, singing did not help. It would not clear her worries of what was going on in her life at the present.

"Princess Garnet!"

The girl turned around. She heard the glass doors from her bedroom to the balcony open and a young woman stepped out. This woman was no older than twenty. Her long chocolate brown hair was tied up in a bun. She wore a long simple black dress, together with a plain white apron. Her eyes were brown colour and they were always smiling.

"Lovely day, ain't it?" the maid chucked.

"Yes, it is very beautiful," Princess Garnet replied, trying to sound enthusiastic.

The maid was not convinced by the princess's answer and started to frown. "Ere…..ye don't sound very happy, your Highness….ye stopped singing, just now! I was enjoyin' yer pretty voice!"

The princess smiled at the woman, as a way of saying thank you to her. The woman accepted this.

"Well, if somethin' is botherin' ye, ye can always tell Mami!" the woman laughed before she went back inside to do other duties, such as cleaning the palace halls.

Mami was Garnet's lady in waiting. She had first come to the castle four years earlier, at the age of sixteen, as she had to leave school early and her family did not have enough money for her to continue her education. At first, Mami was a normal parlour maid cleaning the castle and washing dishes, but she was often assigned to cleaning Garnet's room. Because of this, she and Garnet got to know each other very quickly. The princess liked her because of her cheerful personality and therefore within a year, Garnet hand-picked Mami to become her personal maid, after the previous maid had to 'mysteriously' leave because she unexpectedly fell pregnant – to one of the stable boys, according to the gossip . Despite the fact that they were close friends, however, Garnet could not bring herself to tell Mami of her worries. This was not because the princess was feeling antisocial but because Garnet was feeling worried is because of the strange events that had been occurring in Western Continent. In the cities of Wyndia and Treno. The rumours about a boy with a key being hunted by the Suverian Empire had not actually spread to Wyndia, well, not by gossip, anyway, or by newspaper….

_The day before…_

_Garnet sat by the fountain, gazing at the statue of the woman. She would take a walk in the garden every day in order to see the statue. This statue was the only thing that gave her the presence of her real mother. There was a portrait of the former Empress in the hall, but that was a cheap work by a local artist of limited ambition. _

_However, there was something else about the statue that made Garnet want to visit it every day. Every time she came close to the statue, the princess felt some sort of…presence near her. She was always given a feeling that somebody was with her. A warm and comforting feeling – as if this somebody would always protect her, no matter what happened to her. Perhaps this was a guardian angel…or possibly the very spirit of her mother herself? On the other hand, it might have been just her imagination, but who could tell? _

_The princess heard footsteps coming. She turned to see the current Empress, her stepmother, appear up the pathway, talking to a dark-skinned man. He had long white hair down to his waist and a grey cloak. The princess recognised him at once. It was Sir Ansem, one of the Empress's main advisers. It was not exactly known what he did in the Suverian Empire, but Garnet had been told by a servant that he was one of Surenka's main researchers. She did not know what type of researcher he was, but because of the man's sinister and leering yellow eyes, Garnet was certain that whatever he did, it was probably something that she would not want to know about. The man gave her the creeps…_

_Garnet quickly rose from her seat on the fountain's edge, and walked quickly to the bushes, sweeping her long purple dress behind her knees as she walked. She decided to sit on her wooden swing, which was suspended from the branch of a tree. As the swing was hidden behind two apple trees, the Empress and the researcher would not be able to see her. She would not be accused of listening into conversations which were strictly to do with the secrets of the leaders of the Suverian Empire. As Garnet was only the heir to the throne, she did not count as a 'leader'. This did not bother her usually, she wanted to be out of her stepmother's way most of the time._

_Two years after the Empress Georgiana died, the Emperor had married again. This time, it was to a beautiful and mysterious young woman. Surenka was her name. However, despite the fact that her beauty struck almost anybody she met, Surenka was also received by the nobles of Suveria with as much love as they had given her predecessor – in other words, very little. Nobody knew where she actually came from – she appeared out of nowhere, and because Surenka would not tell anybody of her family or her upbringing, she had no family connections which were worth talking about. All was known is that it was Ansem who had introduced her to the Emperor. However, in spite of the resentment of the nobles, the Emperor loved Surenka and she seemed to be equally attached to him. _

_In Suveria, once an Emperor or the Empress married, his or her partner would also become Empress or Emperor and therefore would jointly govern the Suverian Empire. Because of this, when one partner died, the other would continue to govern Suveria until his or her death. This was why Garnet had nott become queen after her father died – her time would come once Surenka had also died._

_The Empress's relationship with her stepmother was not a very friendly one. Garnet hardly ever spoke to Surenka, save a few exchanged words when passing each other in corridors. She never met her stepmother at dinner – they always ate separately, as the Empress was always busy, dealing with matters to do with the country. What was more, is that Garnet was somewhat…suspicious of Surenka. There was something about the Empress…her eyes, her manner and the fact that she was seemed always to be involved in very secret government affairs that frightened the young princess. And so Garnet generally tried to stay away from her stepmother as often as possible._

_As for what the Empress had thought of her, it was difficult to tell. From Garnet's point of view, it seemed that she was to Surenka as if she was somebody else who happened to live at the palace, whom Surenka acknowledged to be there but was nobody that was really that was worth worrying about. That was fine with Garnet, as long as she was able to spend as little time as she could with her stepmother. _

_Garnet rocked the swing gently backwards and forwards, enough for Ansem and Surenka not to see her. She tried to sing something in her head (so that nobody could hear her). Then, Garnet thought of a song from one of her recordss. This was a pretty song…_

"_Yume o mite me ga samete…"_

"_Well, Sir Ansem, I have received various news to bring from Treno, which I think that you will find interesting…"_

"_Kimi ga inakute…"_

"_Is it about the recent discovery of the two Keyblade Warriors in Treno?"_

"…_hmm…so you know about one of our recent discoveries…"_

"_I was given a telegram from Sir Argul yesterday."_

_The voices were loud enough for Garnet to hear them. She tried to ignore them and continue singing._

"_Sagashikakete ki ga tsuite…"_

"_Well, Sir Ansem, then you obviously know that this means that we are one step closer into achieving our goal…"_

"_Sukoshi dale waratte.."_

"_We are not quite there, your Majesty. We still need to catch the other Keyblade Warrior and that summoner girl, as well as two other summoners."_

"_Kiete itta nukumori o yubisaki ga omoidashite…"_

_Garnet stopped singing. She could hear every word they were saying and it distracted her. She could not stop herself from listening._

"_It is better than being at Square One, Sir Ansem!"_

_The young princess could hear her stepmother's slight tone of rage in reaction to what Sir Argul had said. _

"_We have to find two other summoners…and we have no clue whatsoever as to where we might find them."_

_As Garnet looked behind the tree, she could see her stepmother's angry red eyes flashing at her companion. She gulped. Garnet rarely saw Surenka's eyes like that…but she had seen it happen before. She never knew why her stepmother had those deep, blood-red eyes, but it told her that she certainly was not a normal woman. Therefore, the eyes were another reason as to why the Princess was afraid of the Empress._

"_However, this does not mean that we will not find them…" Ansem continued, obviously trying to calm Lady Surenka down. "Perhaps I might be of some help.."_

"_And what help would that be, Sir Ansem?" the blue-haired woman asked with curiosity. _

"_Well, we have one Keyblade Warrior in our hands…if it is possible that I can see this Keyblade Warrior some time…I think that he might be able to aid us more in our search than you think…" Ansem replied, smiling in a rather dark and menacing way before turning back to the palace, with the Empress following him…_

The princess had no idea what a Keyblade Warrior was. She also did not know what a summoner was either, but she felt in her heart that whatever the Empress was planning was not anything good. Garnet knew very well that the Suverian Empire had a reputation for being ambitious.

She could not think what to do. Perhaps she could investigate – maybe try and find out more about this Keyblade Warrior….but if she did, the Empress would suspect her and accuse her of spying…and not really understanding Surenka's character, she was uncertain and worried about how her stepmother would punish her. Surenka did not love her stepdaughter – or at least, Garnet was certain that Surenka did not love her.

* * *

She opened her eyes….the huge bright green trees towered above her. Where was she?

She felt something….something warm….something over her shoulder. She turned her head around. The large injured blue wing of Valefor lay across her shoulder. The creature was crouching on the ground, breathing heavily, its head flopped down.

Yuna crawled out from under Valefor's wing. She examined herself. No bruises or scratches that she could see or feel. No broken bones either. She was unhurt. Had her flying guardian….protected her?

She glanced at Valefor. Its wings were covered with scars and burns. There were many bleeding cuts, both at the neck, the back and the tail. Yuna knew that Valefor would not be able to fly for quite a while – it needed a rest. Yuna rose from the ground and onto her feet. Her cloak and skirt were a little torn, but that did not matter. She closed her eyes and held out her hands.

A ray of pale turquoise energy suddenly appeared from Valefor's body. The energy travelled from the winged creature to Yuna's hands. The brown haired girl started to glow a turquoise colour. The energy continued to glow from Valefor to its master until eventually Valefor vanished. Yuna smiled. "Thank you," she whispered. "You must be tired. You can have a long sleep now."

She then turned her attention to the forest around her. Looking at the tall trees surrounded by the giant forest of huge green plants, she could see clearly that it was going to be difficult for her to find her way.

Just then, Yuna heard a rustling in the bracken to her left. Somebody was there. She grabbed a stick that happened to be lying next to her (she left her staff in the cabin on the ship), walked slowly to where she saw the rustling and called out, "Who's there?"

* * *

He heard a shout.

Sora suddenly skidded along the ground in order to come to a halt. So….there was somebody else in the woods. Who was it?

Sora heard more shouts. He could also hear a loud hiss. Sora held his Keyblade out in front of him and started to walk….slowly. Who was shouting? The voice sounded very familiar. It sounded the voice of a child. Perhaps it was a fairy? …….No, it would not be a fairy. The fairies sounded like small children with squeaky high-pitched voices. This voice was high-pitched, but not high enough to be a 'squeak'.

Finally, he came to another large clearing. There were no flowers this time. Instead, to his left, about twenty metres away from him, Sora could see a large, long ten foot long cobra. Its lustful green eyes, its golden neck, its small but sharp white fangs were lunging out at….

"RYU!" Sora shouted

The small blue-haired boy was sitting on the ground. His sword was pointing towards the cobra. Sora noticed that the back of his tunic was torn….and blood was dripping out. Ryu was clenching his teeth, as if he was in pain.

The cobra lashed out at the boy, who quickly defended himself against the attack, by slashing at the serpent with his sword. Although he hit the serpent, who was given a large cut across its belly, the snake was only stunned for two seconds – not enough time for Ryu to get out of the way, because as soon as Ryu turned his back in order to roll out of the way, the cobra lunged at him again and grabbed the boy's side with its teeth. This was not the first time that the cobra had managed to do that to him - it had bitten Ryu two other times before. Ryu did not cry out – it did hurt, but he had been in far more serious situations than this.

WHACK!

Suddenly, the cobra let go of Ryu. A large drop of blood fell onto the grass. As Ryu looked up at the cobra, he saw that the right side of the snake's neck was bleeding severely. The cobra turned to its right to see Sora aiming his Keyblade, which was dripping with blood, right at the monster.

In response, the serpent turned its attention away from the red-eyed boy and raised its head, its green eyes pointing out at its attacker. It then lunged out at Sora, who just managed to jump out of the way.

The cobra hissed at its attacker and then lunged again, managing to grab Sora's hand. Sora yelled and then swiped at the serpent again, letting out more blood from the neck. The snake let go, leaving a tooth marks on Sora's hand. Sora winched. The actual bite did not actually hurt much when it occurred, but afterwards…..it stung like hell. Sora ignored the pain and hurled his Keyblade at the cobra again.

The Keyblade missed and accidentally fell from Sora's hand. It landed right next to Ryu.

Ryu, however, did not attempt to pick it up. Even if he did try, he would not be able to….only Sora would be able to use the Silver Keyblade. However, he knew that Sora was in danger and he had to think of something…..

Ryu closed his eyes. He suddenly opened them again. Why was he helping Sora? Why could he just not leave the boy to die? If so, then the Empire would not find him..

Sora was attacked again. This time, the cobra grabbed his foot and started dragging Sora towards him.

Ryu then thought again. He had to do something….although he saw no reason to save Sora but….somehow, he knew that it would be wrong to abandon him.

Sora started to struggle as he was being pulled towards the cobra. He had no weapon now….so he was in a very difficult situation.

Instantly, Ryu closed his eyes and motioned his hands. Suddenly, the snake was hit with a magic fist. The snake then let go of Sora and turned towards Ryu once again, hissing. This gave Sora the opportunity to get up and get his Keyblade…

The snake lunged towards Ryu, but this time, Ryu was able dodge the monster by rolling to the side. The cobra hissed in frustration. It leaned towards Ryu, with its menacing, glaring green eyes….it raised its head once more to attack once again….

But the cobra did not attack. It was unable to….and never would again.

Out of nowhere, a silver keyblade went straight through the snake's neck. Blood spurted out of both the serpent's neck and mouth. Sora had managed to grab his Keyblade and then throw the Keyblade (aiming perfectly) at the cobra….

* * *

"Are you all right?"

Sora pulled his Keyblade out of the cobra's lifeless body and walked towards Ryu, who was struggling to stand up. Sora took him by the arm and helped him to his feet. However, after standing up for a few seconds, Ryu fell to the ground again, as his legs were so weak that they were unable to support his balance. His hands were shaking, his body was sweating all over.

"Hey, Ryu….it's okay….it's gone….I killed it…" Sora tried to reassure him, not quite realising what was wrong, only thinking that Ryu was terrified.

Ryu, however, did not seem to hear what he said. All he managed to do was utter the word, "P….poison…"

He felt dizzy. His vision became blurry. Ryu felt himself falling to the ground. Then…everything went black.

**Yeah, sorry that the chapter sucked. And yeah….I'm poor at action scenes. By the way, the songs that Garnet sings are the ending song from Final Fantasy IX – Melodies of Life – and the end song for Breath of Fire IV – Yume no Sukoshi Ato (translates as 'A Little After the Dream'). They are both very nice songs and I'd recommend anybody to buy them!**

**I would like to thank the following reviewers.**

**Dragonien and Shikamaru – Well, I am glad that you liked the summon. I thought that Valefor would be appropriate for Yuna. **

**Flaming Star-Sabre/Twilight Ember/ Erinyes Star(wow – you keep changing your username – it's so confusing heheheheh)– Thanks for the comments. They are very helpful. Am trying to make the thing more descriptive, with the help of a thesaurus. I even rewrote the whole of Chapter 9! I am also trying to find a beta reader, wherever I can find one. I think that I might have found one – my dad. Unfortunately, he had a lot of work, so I was not sure if it was the right time to ask him to check it. He has, now, though.**

**Airess Byrd – Glad you liked the fairy scene. Will Sora find out who the dragon is? Will he not? Hmmm…..**

**Oh, and I'd like to thank my dad for beta-reading the fanfic! Really sweet of you to do so, considering how little time you have!**

**Yeah, sorry it came late! But my AS exams are now over! (finally!) so I will have a little more time to spend on the fic! Chapter 10 is currently in progress at the moment. Unfortunately, however, although I do not have much work at the moment, my dad does, so don't get upset if my fanfic comes too late. **


	10. 10 Being found

**I don't own KH or FF which belong to Square-Enix. I don't own BOF, either, as that belongs to Capcom. **

**Anyway, warning – quite a bit of angst in this chapter (and later, in other chapters as well although I don't want to make the whole story depressing).**

**Now just for those who are not quite sure what characters I have put in so far, I will tell you – in BOF, I have added Ryu, Nina, Bosch, Ursula, Mami and the fairies. For Final Fantasy I have put Yuna, Zidane, Zell, Rinoa, Selphie, Scarlet, Benero, Zenero, Genero, Locke, Quistis Trepe (Miss Trepe), Garnet, Lenne. And for Kingdom Hearts, Sora, Riku, Kairi and Ansem. More will come in later chapters! Most pairings undecided, but definitely Sora/Kairi! However, take note that this is NOT a yaoi fanfic (no, I am not homophobic – but I just can't imagine myself using that type of pairing), and there is ABSOLUTELY NO WAY that I am going to put Riku and Sora together – I absolutely refuse to, slash or no slash!**

**Anyway, before I go on – this fic is rated mostly for violence or swearing. If the content goes to the extent that I need to put the age rating up, then do let me know! Thanks!**

Yuna peered through the bracken to see where the rustling was coming from. Nothing. Just more tall plants. Maybe it was her imagination…

She began to wonder where her friends were. All she could remember was that Sora fell from Valefor. She also remembered that as Sora fell, some white light began to glow from his Keyblade…..

_When Yuna opened her eyes, the light had faded. Valefor was still in the air, but it was flying more slowly than usual – Yuna could see that it was panting heavily, its eyes fixed on the land which was less than a kilometre ahead…if they could just_

_They made it – now they were flying over the beach. "Valefor, descend…" Yuna called to her winged protector. The great reptile-like creature started to float down towards the trees below. _

"_Sora…" Zidane said to himself quietly with regret._

"_Where is he?" Nina yelled. "He can't be…"_

"_He isn't dead," Ryu told them. "He won't be – he's a Keyblade Warrior. His powers will save him."_

_Nina turned to Ryu, giving "Are you sure?" she asked, with great hope in her eyes. _

_Before the red-eyed child could reply, however, Nina was hit by an icicle, injuring her wing. She lost her balance and fell off Valefor. Ryu, who was sitting right next to her, without warning, jumped after her._

_But before Zidane and Yuna could stop him, Valefor was hit again with a ball of lightning. The pain was so intense that Yuna's guardian lost its balance and started shaking sideways. Yuna felt herself rolling off Valefor's back._

_And the last thing that she remembered was falling…_

Falling…

Falling…

All that Yuna knew was that she woke up lying under Valefor's wing, unhurt. She knew that Valefor had saved her. Valefor had always protected her whenever she was in physical danger – as if it was a guardian angel. Perhaps Valefor was her guardian angel. She did not know.

But what about the others? Were they still alive as well? After falling from such a height?

She sat down, her head bowed, not caring about what was going on around her. _Is it my fault? _She asked herself, feeling a lump in her throat. _I knew that it was dangerous to summong Valefor, but I only wanted to help them…but I led them to their deaths…_

Yuna felt a tear running down her cheek, but she did not bother to wipe it from her face. All that she had managed to do was save her own life, not the lives of her friends, which was what she should have done. Nina was right to be suspicious of her. All that Yuna felt she did was cause trouble for everybody.

She stopped crying when she suddenly heard another rustling in the bracken. Something was definitely there. She drew out her staff, ready for a spell, and closed her eyes. She moved her staff around to create her ice trap…

* * *

"Ryu!" 

Upon seeing Ryu collapse, Sora quickly ran over to him. He bent over and examined the boy. He was incredibly pale, but he was still breathing….

Sora then suddenly started to feel…hot. Sweat started to pour down his head….what was going on? It could not have been the weather…but the climate could not just suddenly change from mild to incredibly hot.

A pain from the sting on Sora's left hand, where the snake bit him, suddenly increased dramatically, forcing him to clutch his left hand. He examined the tooth marks on his hand and was shocked to see four long sickily green lines travelling right up his arm from the tooth marks of the cobra. Sora's arm began to shake.

He then thought for a moment. He remembered in defence classes that there were some snakes that had the power to inject some deadly venom into their opponents…venom that could kill that opponent within minutes. Sora had been poisoned.

In response, Sora closed his eyes and moved his hands. A green light flowed around him and the green lines on his arm disappeared, leaving only the tooth marks on his hand. _Good thing I knew the White magic spell Panacea_ (which could cure poison) _otherwise, I would have been screwed_. He checked his foot. There were no tooth marks. Although the cobra damaged his trainer, it had not actually touched his foot, which was a relief….otherwise, the poison would have had a much worse effect on him.

But wait….what about Ryu? Sora turned to the unconscious boy. Ryu was still breathing…but his face was white and his face was wet with sweat. Sora noticed that the back of his tunic was torn. He turned the boy over to find out where the snake had bitten him and suddenly gasped at what he saw.

The snake's bites were there all right…two bites on the lower left side of his back and one on the upper right. However, this was not that caught Sora's attention. Right next to Ryu's spine were two dark red, and clearly visible scars, both in straight lines.

"And there were two more scars…..on his back. Two straight ones, but they're old," Sora remembered Locke telling him the night that they rescued Ryu. So…..they happened a long time ago. Although Sora was uncertain on how Ryu gained those scars, he could tell just by looking at them that the pain that occurred when they appeared must have been great. How did Ryu obtain those large, ugly scars? The Empire?

Sora heard a faint whimper from Ryu and returned to reality. He did not know how long it was since Ryu was poisoned…but he had to do something quickly, or he would die. Sora instantly closed his eyes and performed Panacea.

* * *

His eyes opened slowly.. His eyes began to focus… 

He turned his head around. The light in the room was dim. The whole room appeared bare, apart from a small bedside chest of drawers with a lamp – not an electric one, but one of those lamps on which one would light a candle and then place the round cylinder-like glass over. The floor had plain wooden floorboards, with no rug or carpet for decoration. The entire room was if it was a prison cell. His black Keyblade lay on the floor beside the bed. He recognised this place – it was the cabin that they lent him for the journey. Not the most flattering room – even his tiny and cramped bedroom at school, which had a window that had the beautiful and magnificent view of a group of dustbins which were dumped in the street below his bedroom window and had walls painted a dull yellow, appeared a luxury, compared to the cabin.

He could not move his hands or legs. As he looked down, he realised that both his feet and his hands (behind his back) were tied together by some rope.

How did he get here? He remembered threatening to kill Bosch if he did anything to that ship. Did he manage to stop Bosch? He could not remember……wait a minute….he remembered himself being grabbed by a couple of soldiers…then hit in the head with something…sharp. He lost his balance, felt himself falling…and saw blackness.

His head was still in pain…and he could not do anything about it, as his hands were bound. Riku tried to move his hands to free himself from the ropes…..no good. They were too tight.

The door suddenly opened and Bosch stepped in, followed by Captain Ursula. Bosch had some sort of evil smug look on his face. Ursula followed him, with a frown on her face, which was directed at Bosch.

"So he's finally awake," Bosch said. "See? I told ya, Ursula…as much as I would like to…I can't kill the little silver-haired brat yet."

Ursula gave Bosch a cold look but decided to remain silent.

Riku struggled to sit up. Bosch pulled out his rapier. Ursula's eyes widened.

"Don't worry, Ursula…I told you the gods know how many times…Riku is too important to destroy. Besides….a mere sword like this one can't kill him…you saw what happened to Sora…."

Sora? Riku was now sitting up with little difficulty. His blue eyes were now fixed on Bosch with fury and suspicion. "What the fuck did you do to Sora?" he questioned the general.

Bosch said nothing at first. He forcefully pushed Riku over, grabbed his arms and moved the rapier towards Riku's hand. His rapier drew a line through the skin, and then pushed at the ropes, cutting them instantly and therefore freeing Riku's arms. However, Riku was given a rather large cut on his right hand as a result – which he was certain was intentional.

"You can free your legs yourself," Bosch said.

"Why did you tie him up?" Ursula asked,

"What happened if he woke up when I was still trying to chase that creature?" Bosch replied as if he had done nothing wrong. He still had strong memories of being attacked by Riku back in Treno.

"I don't ever remember him becoming a prisoner, General," Ursula said accusingly.

Bosch laughed as if Ursula was being stupid. "Captain…" he then whispered into his inferior's ear so that Riku could not hear. "Just because we have bribed young Riku here into working with us, it does not mean that he can change his mind just like that. And if even he does attempt to break his promise and we kill his friends as a result, we can find _other_ ways to get his assistance – okay, he is not really a prisoner in the sense that the Empress did not actually say he was – but if you think about it….."

Before Ursula could respond, Bosch's attention turned to Riku.

"Well, kid…I suppose you want to know what happened to your friends…"

"Like hell, I do!" Riku stood up fast after he had finished untying his feet. He grabbed Bosch by the collar and pushed him against the wall. Ursula instantly drew out her gun.

Damn, that boy is strong! Bosch said to himself. He knew that Riku would be powerful – but he had still underestimated his strength, even after he was badly wounded by Riku's black Keyblade in Treno.

"Well….aren't you gonna tell me?" Riku demanded, lifting Bosch a little higher and his fist aimed at the general's face, his blue eyes flashing with anger and hatred.

"I will tell you if you put me down."

Ursula pointed her gun at Riku's head. "Put the general down," she demanded. Even though she would have loved to see Bosch with a broken neck, Bosch was still a general, and therefore superior to her in rank. If the general was killed, then she would have a lot of explaining to do with the authorities – and it would be likely that she would be punished severely.

"If you value the lives of your friends, then I suggest that you let me go – you know that it is a violation for a Suverian citizen to attack his superior?" Bosch taunted.

"Hell, just because I'm from the same tribe as you doesn't mean I have to follow all your customs!" Riku

"Are you sure about that?" Bosch asked in a mocking tone. "Because those type of violations in Suveria are surely punishable by death……but since you are important to us, boy….we can….put the blame on…others…perhaps Sir Argul can find one of your friends at school.."

Riku uttered something unintelligible (probably several curses), let go of Bosch and stepped back. Bosch landed on his feet. He gave an evil grin and then walked around the room, rubbing his neck. Ursula lowered her gun.

"Anyway, where was I?" Bosch began. "Oh, yes…I was going to explain what happened to the Keyblade Warrior and your other two friends…"

And then he told Riku of the incident with the winged creature that the young girl summoned. And how he used his spells in order to stop them. Riku sat on his cabin bed, staring at the floor, listening to every single word that came out of Bosch's mouth and his anger rising gradually as the evil general described how he targeted and hit the flying animal many times, how Sora fell into the sea, how Sora managed to save himself with his powers and how the flying creature lost its balance.

Eventually, the boy had to say something.

"….I thought that you were not going to hurt them," he then said, looking up at Bosch, with a calm composure, but his aqua-coloured eyes still full of rage.

"Well……that the other Keyblade Warrior and the summoner girl were getting away," Bosch explained. "We had to find a way to stop them so that we could locate them easily….they knew that we were after them.."

"You guys promised me that Nina would not be involved and that Sora would not be hurt!" Riku growled. "Yet you attacked them both – you guys lied to me!"

Bosch shrugged. "That is what the Empress promised you," he replied casually. "She does try to keep her side of the bargain..however, Sora and that girl is more important to her than the safety of your friends…"

Riku's eyes turned to the wall, not bothering to answer. He wanted to be alone.

"Well….I have to go back to the cockpit," Bosch sighed aloud. "In order that we prepare our search on that little abandoned island….see if we have any luck in finding our buried treasure…."

He turned to Ursula. "Make sure that the men have all their weapons," he commanded. "It could be a long search….we may not even find them on the island….."

Bosch then opened the door and went straight out, feeling satisfied - he was one of those who enjoyed making misery for other people. That little blue-haired boy had disappeared – and that was a considerable annoyance to him, but Riku arrived. Now he had somebody new to pick on, besides Captain Ursula. As Bosch walked through the doorway, Ursula walked slowly behind him, giving her superior several angry glances. Although Ursula was a loyal soldier, she never hid her opinion from Bosch about his ruthless treatment of others – she was allowed to do that – not that Bosch cared anyway. Twenty one year old Ursula was from a poor family whose main reason for joining the Suverian army was to support her parents and five younger sisters. She was a peasant girl – _what would she know?_ Bosch would normally think. Although Ursula had risen to quite a high rank and was popular among her soldiers – her well-earned respect would never get her very far. She would probably never rise to a general, due to the fact that she was a working-class girl.

Twenty five year old Bosch, on the other hand, was different. He had come from the DeVer family, one of the richest and well-respected families in Suveria, ranking alongside the Garald family the Argul family and others. He had joined the army at the age of sixteen and been promoted very quickly thanks to his noble heritage as well as his excellent skills in combat and magic. Bosch not only rose to the General rank at the age of twenty-three, but on the very day of his promotion, he was betrothed to the Empress' stepdaughter and heir to the Suverian Empire, Princess Garnet. Ursula would gain _none_ of this glory, during her career as a soldier.

Once both the arrogant general and captain left, Riku made sure that the door was completely shut, fell to the floor and examined his bleeding hand. He found a long black cloth in his coat pocket and wrapped it around to stop the flowing blood. The wound would heal in time. It was painful, but not something that would leave a scar. However, the pain from his injury was nothing in comparison to the pain in his mind.

The Empire had broken their two of their promises to him….Bosch had attacked both of them when they tried to escape from that boat. Although he was told that Sora would be still alive because of his powers (and Riku hoped that this was true), but what about Nina? She may have been the Princess of Wyndia, but she was really just a normal girl – with no 'special' powers, as far as Riku knew.

Perhaps her wings would be able to save her from the height….but…how great a distance were they from land? If she was lucky, Nina could have been able to spread out her wings and float down instead, having a safe landing….he hoped. But how far high up had they been? Did they really reach the island in time in order to stop them from landing in the sea and…

Riku banged his strong fist on the floor, causing the door to shake, and stared at the floor.

"Whoah…that was loud!" He heard Bosch's voice in the corridor. "Perhaps our hormonal teenager is going to burst into tears at anytime now!"

_Nice try, idiot,_ Riku thought with utter, deep hatred for the general. Riku did not remember how to cry – it was something that he had not done since he was……eight perhaps? He could not remember. He knew that Bosch was deliberately trying to make his life a misery – and had been doing this ever since Bosch had been assigned to look after him. And this was his first successful attempt. Bosch had succeeded because by trying to kill two of Riku's closest friends.

_Wait! _Riku suddenly thought. _Both Sora and Nina could be still alive….what Bosch said….Maybe that summoned creature made a safe landing…..just because it was badly hurt, it doesn't mean that it would have just crashed. So there is a small chance that Nina could be alright. And Sora too, if his so called 'power' really did save him…_

Riku realised that there was no use getting upset at the present, as he really did not know what happened to his friends. However, this did not stop his head being full of confusion and worry.

"Nina…Sora…" he whispered to himself. "Don't die on me…..you _have_ to be alive"

* * *

It was not long before Ryu finally stirred. Sora was sitting on the grass a few metres away from him, waiting for him to wake up. He had done all he could – and was now certain that Ryu was going to be okay. 

The boy gave a small groan. Sora rose from his sitting place and walked towards him. Ryu slowly opened his eyes and started to examine his surroundings. He cried out when he suddenly found somebody bending over him and sat up quickly, grabbing his sword.

"Whoah….hey, it's only me!" Sora exclaimed.

Ryu recognised Sora instantly and returned his sword to its sheath. "Don't startle me like that again," he growled.

Sora was a little taken aback by this hostility, even though he did not really expect Ryu to be in a friendly mood when he woke up. Not that Ryu would be in a friendly mood to anyone in any place at any time. Even though he had only known him for a few days, Sora had worked out a little of Ryu's character already – the boy seemed very reserved – he would not tell Sora or anybody else about where he came from, where he lived or even who his parents were. He would not even tell them his real name, which was even stranger. However, Sora did have some idea why Ryu kept himself to himself. It was not because he was moody or antisocial.

The reason was that Ryu did not trust _anyone_. Not even his companions.

Why? Sora wondered. What did Ryu have against people that made him so wary of them? Was there _anybody_ that he was friendly with?

"What's wrong?"

Ryu was looking at the brown-haired youth with suspicion, wondering why he was lost in thought – was he planning something?

Sora shook his head instantly, forgetting that he was still inside the forest. He apologised.

"Um…….are you okay?" Sora asked, still having no idea how Ryu managed to land on the island. "Are the others here? Are they safe?"

Ryu was unsure how to reply….he knew how he had survived the fall, but that was something that he was not going to reveal to Sora, for various reasons. However, he realised that perhaps there was one thing that he could tell Sora….and avoid awkward questions.

"Um…I saw Nina…" he murmured.

Nina? Sora stepped back. Nina….he was still looking for her. However, because he had been interrupted by the snake and become so bent on trying to rescue Ryu, he had forgotten all about her. _Dammit – she could be dead by now! _Sora fretted. _And I have been standing here…wait a minute…_

"D-do you know where Nina is?" Sora then asked Ryu.

The boy nodded. He pointed towards the west and ran – with unbelievable speed for a child so young.

Sora followed, also running, incredibly fast but not quite enough to keep up with Ryu's pace. However, although Ryu soon disappeared from his sight, Sora knew where the boy had gone…..all he had to do was follow Ryu's path through the bracken.

* * *

Yuna stepped back after she had created her ice glyph. Whatever was in those bushes, whether it was a monster or someone who wanted to plan a sneak attack on her, she was well-prepared… 

Just then, the creature emerged…Yuna had no time to work out what it was, as it ran straight into her trap..

"OWOWOWOWOWOWOW!"

Yuna could not believe her eyes. What she had caught was not a monster…….but a little girl. A girl aged around six or so – her straight purple hair was cut into a bob, tied together with a yellow ribbon, and her eyes were a bright green. She was wearing a long pink frilly dress, with long and puffed up sleeves. A pair of rather large looking brown boots (which were too big for her) were slipping off her feet.

The child fell to the ground, after being hit by the ten or so icicles that she ran into. Yuna was overcome by a great feeling of guilt – how could she have known that it was a child and not a monster? In seconds, the young woman was on her knees, crying, "Oh dear, I am so sorry! Are you all right?"

At first, the girl did not stir an inch.

Yuna continued to examine her, her heart filling with more regret…

But then with no warning, the girl jumped to her feet as if she was a Jack in the Box and whacked Yuna on the arm with a wooden mahogany staff, which she was holding. Yuna jumped back in surprise. The child, however, continued to attack her, shouting "HOW DARE YOU SET A TRAP ON ME! TAKE THAT!"

Yuna was hit with a ball of fire. She fell backwards and dropped her staff, making no attempt to stop the child.

The girl stopped for a second, as she realised that the young woman did not try to defend herself. Why?

"Come on – are you gonna fight me or what?" the girl shouted, starting to get annoyed.

Yuna returned to her feet, but she did not pick up her staff. Instead, she held up her hand, telling the girl to stop.

"…y…you….don't want to fight me?" The tiny purple-haired girl asked, puzzled.

Yuna shook her head with sincerity. "I-I'm sorry," she managed to say in response. "I…thought you were a monster…"

The girl was about to snap out at Yuna for being an idiot and saying that she looked like a monster – but realised that Yuna did not see her at first, because she was hiding behind the bushes.

"I….guess you didn't see me, then," she replied, smiling apologetically at Yuna.

Yuna smiled back, relieved that she had not managed to kill the little girl and that the little girl had forgiven her. However, what was such a small child who looked about five or six years old doing in the woods all alone? Where were her parents?

"Um…..how did you get here?" Yuna asked, in a friendly tone.

The girl's smile faded. "Um….I live here," she answered as if Yuna was being stupid. "I only went out to hunt a deer…"

Going out to hunt a deer? On her own? Perhaps somebody was with her, but she got lost Yuna thought. She had to ask another question.

"Well….do your parents know where you are?"

"My parents are dead," the girl replied."My sister Lenne looks after me…well, she's not really my sister, but I like to think of her as that…."

The purple-haired child understood what Yuna meant. _Lenne knows me well enough to let me go out on my own! This lady does not know what a SPECIAL girl I am! _

Yuna did not know what to think. So, she did live with somebody – but what was she doing out in the wilderness by herself?

"Well, does Lenne know where you are?" the brown-haired girl asked. "Surely, she'll be worried about you? Shouldn't you go home now, so that she won't have to go out and look for you?"

_I knew she would ask me that! _The little girl said to herself in thought. _Now…how am I gonna convince her that I don't need a grown-up to come with me!_

"I'll take you to her!" the girl said. "Our house isn't that far!" 

And with that, she turned back towards the bracken and started to run.

"Wait!" Yuna protested. "Where are you going?"

"Come on!" the girl called. "It's this way! It's easy to get lost in the forest, but I know the way!"

Yuna decided that she had better follow the girl – she had to meet this Lenne, in order to tell her that this girl was safe. Such a small girl should never be let out to explore such a place unaccompanied.

Even when she was with different foster families, Yuna knew that she never had been let out of any of her 'homes' so young without somebody to go with her at that age.

* * *

Ryu and Sora made their way through the forest. Ryu led, running ahead, and Sora following closely behind, panting heavily, but determined to find one of his best friends in one piece. 

Ryu abruptly stopped and pointed ahead – in the bracken lay Nina. Sora walked slowly up to her. She was unconscious, but still breathing. Both of her wings were broken and so were her left arm and right leg but all of the injuries had been bandaged by large bracken stalks.

"You….did that to her with the plants?"

Ryu nodded.

Sora did not know what to say – he had been so worried about Nina, especially after seeing the dragon – what would the dragon have done to her? Kill her? Have her for dinner? However, now he could relax a little– as somehow Ryu had managed to find her, without being caught by the dragon.

Sora walked up to Nina and cast a Cure spell on her. This helped to mend some of her bones, although she would have to find a proper place to rest, in order to fully recover – and Sora had just used up his last healing spell.

He turned to Ryu and grinned before giving a nervous laugh, trying to think of what to say to Ryu.

"Well….uh….thanks, kid…" Sora chuckled. "…..I-I….really though that she was dead….."

Thanks? Ryu could hardly remember the last time that somebody had thanked him – apart from Yuna when they saved her from those bandits (although this was to Sora, Nina and Zidane as well, not just Ryu, so it did not count). Although Ryu had done favours for others, it was usually so that he would be rewarded with his life – nobody but Yuna and Sora had said anything actually showed appreciation for his actions. He was not used to it. Ryu felt his blood rush up to his face – and Sora could see that he was turning a bright shade of pink. It was quite amusing to watch.

"It's nothing to be embarrassed about!" Sora laughed again. "You should be proud of yourself!"

"Who are you?"

Sora and Ryu rose instantly and turned around. That was not Ryu's voice.

A woman stood before them, staring at them intently. Her long earrings which consisted of strings of coloured beads were almost hidden by her long straight dark chocolate brown hair that fell down to her waist. She wore a blue zipped tank top with a short blue skirt and dark long brown boots.Her chestnut brown eyes radiated with distrust. She was aiming a bow at Sora. Sora drew out his Keyblade in suspicion. Ryu already had his hand gripped on his sword.

The woman noticed the Keyblade, and her eyes widened.

"Y-you're a K-Keyblade Warrior!" she gasped in horror.

So…she knew about the Keyblade Warriors, then? Sora did not know how to react to this. If she had some idea about who the Keyblade Warriors were, then maybe she could help him, unless….

"A-are you from the Empire?" Sora questioned the young woman, nervously.

The woman lowered her bow. "Put your weapons down," she ordered. "I do not wish to fight you…"

"Are you from the Empire?" Ryu repeated Sora's question, but in a rather more demanding tone.

"The Empire? Why would I want to work for those tyrants?" the woman replied, dropping her bow to the ground. Then her eyes moved to Nina and she ran over to the unconscious girl.

Ryu covered Nina, his sword pointing still at the woman.

"It's okay, I'm not gonna hurt her," the woman said calmly. She studied Nina carefully for a few minutes. "I see……you have tried to bandage her wing….bracken won't really do the trick, but at least you have tried something…..is she from Wyndia?"

"Uh…yeah….." Sora could not lie about that. It would be obvious to _anybody_ that Nina was from Wyndia. No other tribe was known to have wings.

The woman nodded. "I thought so." She then closed her eyes and a white light appeared above Nina's body. A few seconds later, some of Nina's wounds disappeared.

"That's all I can do for the moment," the woman declared. "She isn't the first one. Come with me….bring her with you. We need to get her somewhere safe.."

To be continued… 

**The longest chapter I have written so far – yay!**

**I would like to thank the following reviewers: **

**Erinyes Star – Thanks a lot! Yeah, I'm afraid the story will be a bit slow – I don't know how long I'm going to make it….even though I have sort of planned the overall storyline. However, there are specifically important plot points that I don't really want to reveal just _yet_….Also, I know you wanted me to be more descriptive, but when my dad beta-read it, he said that the fanfic was a little too detailed – I'm not going to ignore your advice in Chapter 8, but I don't want to go too overboard, especially as it might spoil some of the plot which you are not supposed to find out yet!**

**Chapter 10 up, Chapter 11 complete but still needs to be beta-checked. Chapter 12 in progress, but don't nag me about updates! This fanfic is not dead, but I am not going to be certain on when I will be update!**


	11. 11 Eiko and Lenne

**Disclaimer: Breath of Fire belongs to Capcom. Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts belong to Square-Enix, but Kingdom Hearts also belongs to Disney.**

"This way!"

The small purple-haired girl carried her little legs through the forest as fast as she could, Yuna following her behind, panting and trying desperately to keep up with her.

Suddenly, they came out of the forest and Yuna found herself standing in front of a small cottage on top of a tall white cliff. The cottage was built in sandstone brick and two stories, and had a dark thatched roof. Flowerpots (which held purple pansies) hung from the thatched roofs and there was a little garden to the rear of the cottage, which was surrounded by a fence, presumably to stop anybody from getting too close to the edge of the cliff. Inside the garden there was a vegetable patch with lettuces and carrots and there was a flowerbed, with a few white roses and a large sunflower.

"It was built a few years ago just for Lenne and me!" the girl exclaimed. "Isn't it nice? Just me and Lenne!"

Yuna nodded. She noticed that there was light flickering through one of the windows – a fire. It gave her a warm feeling, as if the cottage was encouraging her to enter in and sit beside the fire, in order to keep herself warm.

The little girl trotted up to the door and turned the handle. The door gave a slight creak as she opened it, but not an unfriendly one. She beckoned Yuna to come inside. Yuna took the hint.

"Oh, by the way, what's your name?" the girl asked.

"My name is Yuna," Yuna responded politely.

"Yuna? Wow, pleased to meet you!" the girl exclaimed enthusiastically. "My name is Eiko!"

And with that, Eiko went inside. Yuna peered inside to see a tiny but rather comfortable-looking room. The cold stone-cobbled floor did not prevent the fire on the right hand side from warming up the whole room. On the left side of the room was the kitchen, with two wooden cupboards attached to the wall

"Well, make yourself at home!" Eiko said, taking the kettle from the kitchen table, filling it with water from a bucket. "We get this water from a little spring nearby," she continued before placing the now filled kettle on the stove beside the fire.

Yuna lay her staff down beside the door – and the purple-haired girl did not appear to object to this. She was amazed that Eiko knew how to boil a kettle and looked confident enough to use it without accidentally spilling it or burning herself.

"Lenne should be back soon," Eiko said, watching over the kettle. "She's only gonna look for some special herbs for the guy we found…."

"Um… the guy you found?" Yuna did not quite understand what the child was saying.

"Yeah…there's a guy upstairs. We found him injured in the woods a few hours ago. We gave him a few healing spells and potions, so he should be okay."

Yuna remained silent but her mind was racing. A guy? _Perhaps it could be…no, Sora fell into the sea! He couldn't possibly survive. Maybe Zidane? Not possible – after falling from such a height? _

"What…does this guy look like?" Yuna finally asked, with growing hope.

"Um…he looks younger than Lenne," Eiko replied. "Long blond hair, blue eyes. He was wearing a blue jacket with a white shirt. And he had blue pants and was carrying two daggers."

And with that, Yuna jumped up and made for the wooden ladder – there was no staircase, only a ladder to give access to the first floor.

"He's asleep!" Eiko cried in protest.

Yuna, however, ignored her and climbed upstairs. Once on the first floor, she found herself in the bedroom, a tiny attic. There was a red carpet laid across the wooden floorboards. A wooden cupboard was on one side, and on the other a chest of drawers on which stood a vase of white roses. The back window gave a view of the garden and the sea.

Two beds were placed to the left of the room. Yuna saw that there was already somebody in one bed, because she saw a leg move under the covers.

"Zidane!" Yuna cried. She immediately ran to his bedside. It was definitely him – she recognised his blond hair. The ponytail had gone, so it now lay on his shoulders. His jacket had been removed, but he was still wearing his shirt.

"Zidane? Huh…you know him?" Eiko asked.

Yuna nodded, half-relieved that she had at least found one of her friends, but also half-worried about that friend's condition.

"I'm sure that he will wake up soon," Eiko's came from behind her. "It's lucky that we found him when we did, or he probably would have been dead by now. We've managed to fix his ribs and his head – but we can't finish mending his arm or leg until Lenne finds some more Sulfa herb."

Yuna nodded. Zidane did look in very poor shape because his right arm and right leg were both broken, but none of the remaining injuries looked fatal. She was both relieved and amazed that Zidane had survived after falling from such a height. At least _he_ was alive…

Voices could be heard from outside, which made Yuna turn towards the window.

"We need to get her to bed as soon as possible," one voice said. "She will be fine, but she needs a lot of rest…."

"That's Lenne!" Eiko chirped excitedly, heading towards the ladder.

"Thank goodness for that," replied another voice, one that sounded familiar to Yuna. "Thanks for your help, ma'am…"

Yuna followed Eiko, not only to see Lenne but also to find out whose the other voice was – it sounded like….

Eiko scurried down the ladder, to see a young woman with long dark brown hair (to her waist), a blue tank top and skirt, and a bow at her side. She ran up to her and hugged her instantly. The woman nearly fell over.

However, she quietly regained her balance and laughed enthusiastically, giving Eiko a great cuddle.

"Well, I am glad that you are so happy to see me," she chucked. "Have you been a good girl?"

"Uh-huh," Eiko answered, her head still in the woman's chest. She looked up and then suddenly, her smile disappeared. "…Who are they?"

The woman turned around to her companions standing behind her. Sora and Ryu were standing at the door and Nina was lying in Sora's arms.

"Um…I met them in the woods," the woman replied, with a slight air of uneasiness. "They needed help – a friend of theirs is in danger. But I think that we can trust them."

Eiko nodded, accepting this. "Any friend of Lenne's is a friend of mine!" she smiled. Lenne laughed again. She then looked up and noticed Yuna.

"Uh….this is a new friend of mine as well," Eiko said, realising that Lenne had spotted Yuna. "It's okay, Lenne. Her name's Yuna. She's really nice – and I think that she knows the guy upstairs."

"She knows him?" Lenne exclaimed.

"Yeah….she says that his name's Zidane…."

"Guys….it's you!" Yuna nearly shouted, overjoyed to see Sora and Ryu.

Sora saw Yuna and he would have run over to her instantly if he were not carrying Nina. Instead, he replied gladly, "Yuna! You're alive!" with relief.

However, before Ryu could say anything, Yuna had spotted Nina's helpless condition and gave out a cry of horror.

"It's okay," Sora said calmly. "I've given her a couple of healing spells. All she needs to do now is rest and she'll recover quite quickly."

Sora turned to Lenne. "Um….shall I put her by the fire?" he asked her, eager to find somewhere comfortable for Nina – preferably a bed.

Lenne, who by now had let go of Eiko and was listening to the conversation between Sora and Yuna shook her head. "Take her up to the attic," she ordered calmly. "Use the left bed. I'm afraid that there's another person up there, who was in a similar condition her. I think that you might know him."

"I might know him?" Sora enquired in a confused tone.

Yuna spoke up. "Sora, Zidane is alive," she explained. "It seems that Miss Lenne and Miss Eiko found him in the woods and brought him here."

* * *

Nina was quickly given proper splints and bandages for her broken bones and tucked up in Eiko's bed. Neither she nor Zidane had yet opened their eyes, but both Lenne and Eiko were confident that they would recover from their wounds. Lenne mixed some Sulfa herb (which she had found in the woods) with many strange ingredients that none of the others (except probably Eiko) recognised.

Yuna thought it an appropriate time to ask Lenne about her and Eiko.

"So….you two live here alone?" she began. "With nobody else on the island?"

Lenne nodded, realising what Yuna was actually asking. She knew that it was rather odd, a young woman and a young girl living together on a deserted island. But both of them lived on the island for a good reason – and this reason was something that had to be strictly kept a secret. If they told anybody, then it could reach the Empire….

However, she had also realised that Sora was a Keyblade Warrior, and also somebody who would be hunted down by the Empire as a matter of course – but whether Sora was running away from the Empire or he was sent by them to this island to search for…..

On balance, Lenne thought she would try not to lie, but she would not fully reveal her reasons for living on the island.

"So…you don't live with any of your relatives?" Sora asked, curious, not knowing that Eiko was an orphan.

"Nah…..my mother and father died when I was a baby," Eiko replied, not in a sad tone because she never knew her family. "Lenne knew my parents because Lenne is a h-"

"I….uh…worked for her father," Lenne interrupted rather suddenly. That was not a lie. She then looked meaningfully at Eiko. Eiko gulped, knowing that she might have let too much out. Meanwhile, Sora and Yuna had noticed Lenne's interruption, and recognised that Lenne was hiding something, but each decided not to ask just yet.

"He asked me to look after Eiko," Lenne continued. "And so I raised her as my own."

Yuna nodded. That made some sense. Still, though, she wanted to ask some more about the way that Eiko was brought up.

"How old is Eiko?" was her second question.

Lenne paused for a second. It was not a question that she wished to answer – nobody would believe her. However, Eiko answered for her.

"I'm gonna be seven in four months!" the purple-haired girl piped up, proudly.

Sora dropped his mouth wide open and cake crumbs fell out of his mouth (Lenne had just offered him some carrot cake that she had made herself). Yuna did not know how to take Eiko's answer, but just sat on her chair, trying not to look too shocked. Ryu, strangely, did not seem at all affected.

"I know that it's hard to believe," Lenne tried to explain. "Eiko has…..say…..an unusual amount of wisdom and intelligence for her age. Her mind is incredibly quick. She loves to read and study."

"I especially like plays!" Eiko added, proudly. "Have you read 'I Want to Be Your Canary' by Lord Avon? It's one of my favourites."

Sora nodded. "I studied it at school." 'I Want to Be Your Canary', the story of a tragic romance of Marcus the peasant boy and the princess Cornelia was particularly enjoyed by many of the students. Nina and Riku had studied it for their General Exams and Sora and Kairi would do the same. The king of Wyndia had managed to obtain some tickets to a production at the Grand Theatre in Wyndia to help the four teenagers in their studies. The play was so well acted and so dramatic that even Sora got a little emotional at the deaths of Marcus and Cornelia – well, to say a 'little' was a bit under-exaggerated. He got emotional to the point where he sobbing (quite loudly) into Riku's sleeve. As a result, he was rewarded with various muffled giggles from Nina and Kairi and some weird looks from other members of the audience and one very irritated and embarrassed Riku. Eventually, Riku forgave Sora once they returned to the castle and since then, the four friends would sometimes look back on that event and laugh about it.

"Um….Eiko told me that she knew how to look after herself," Yuna said in a such a tone that it was clear to anybody that she did not believe the little girl. Even Eiko understood this.

"I can!" she replied angrily. "I can go out into the woods on my own, can't I, Lenne?"

Lenne raised her hand at Eiko to hush her. She then turned to Sora, Yuna and Ryu rather nervously. "I think that it would be better if Eiko gave you a demonstration."

She stood up and moved to the middle of the room. "Eiko, you see that Ryu has got a couple of nasty cuts on his back? See if you can do anything about those…"

Ryu's face flushed. He had forgotten that the cobra from earlier had managed to tear the back of his tunic – now everybody could see his wounds on his back. Eiko, however, just grabbed Ryu by the arm and dragged him to the centre of the room.

"W-what are you doing?" Ryu asked nervously.

"Relax, it's not gonna hurt," the little girl said in an 'I-know-best' voice. Ryu turned to Sora and Yuna.

"I really don't think that she's gonna hurt you Ryu," Sora told him. "She's only gonna heal you."

Eiko closed her eyes and began to chant. A wave of white energy flowed from her hand and suddenly circled Ryu. This white energy brushed against his face, as if it was a cool breeze. He held out right hand and a blue light appeared cupped in his palm. Within seconds, the white energy, along with the blue light, disappeared. Ryu breathed a sigh of satisfaction, knowing that he had just learnt a new skill.

Everybody else in the room looked at the two children in surprise. Eiko was also a bit shocked and a little annoyed that Ryu could also use blue magic. Until that moment, Eiko had thought that she was the only child in the world who was an expert in blue magic, and that made her feel special. This boy had stolen her glory.

Yuna and Sora were gazing at Eiko in wonder. It was very, _very_ rare to see a person who had mastered blue magic before they were in their twenties (it was scary enough seeing that _Ryu_ had) and _nobody_ had even heard of a skilled blue mage to be as young as _six_!

Additionally, Lenne had had quite a shock – not from Eiko of course, but from Ryu. How old was that boy? He did not look older than nine, yet _he_ appeared to be confidently able to learn and use blue magic. Perhaps he was as much of a child prodigy as Eiko. But then, Lenne saw something unusual about Ryu – it was his eyes. They were rather familiar to her…

"Lenne! Ryu's wounds haven't disappeared!" Eiko complained. "Didn't my White Wind spell work?"

Lenne gave one glance at Ryu's back. "It's okay, Eiko…they're scars, not cuts at all. They won't heal easily…." She turned to the little boy. "Do you….have any spare clothes that you could wear for a while? That tunic looks a little torn, but I can easily sew it up for you."

Ryu had changed back into his grey pyjamas that he wore in Treno. They were his only other clothes.

Lenne had finished making a potion for Zidane and Nina and Ryu and Sora decided to take it up to the loft.

"Well, it's nice that they let us stay at their house," Sora said cheerfully. "But we'll need to find a way to get off this island before too long…."

"The Empire are bound to find us sooner or later," Ryu warned him. "That must _never _happen."

Sora decided not to comment on this. Even though he was still anxious to know why he was so special to the Empire, Sora had made an effort to be more cheerful – he was just happy that all his friends were alive and that was more important than anything else at the present.

They were by the beds. "Okay…..Lenne told me to just put the drops on their wounds," Sora said to Ryu thoughtfully. "Am I right?"

"Yeah….two drops…"

"…guys…"

Sora turned around. That voice came from the beds behind them. He looked over to see that Zidane was awake.

The young thief was moving his head and looking at his surroundings. He had no idea where he was and in truth was uncertain whether he was dreaming or not. What Zidane did know, however, that he was feeling very sore, especially in his right arm and right leg.

Sora gave a big grin. Ryu was carrying the potion. He moved to the right side of the bed.

"How are you?" Sora asked.

"…..is….this a dream, Sora?" came the weak voice.

Sora shook his head, not knowing how to explain how the thief got there. Zidane remained silent for a few seconds, trying to remember what had exactly happened when they were attacked.

His eyes turned to the left and his face turned white when he saw Nina lying on the other bed, making no signs of life, except her breathing.

"She'll be okay, Zidane," Sora said, with another smile. "She hasn't woken up yet, but her injuries will heal, as will yours. I'm not hurt and neither's Ryu nor Yuna. Yuna's downstairs at the moment, talking to the people who live in this house. They let us stay her so that you two could recover."

Zidane nodded slightly before facing Sora again. "….tell me what happened," he whispered.

* * *

Lenne came upstairs soon after Sora had finished his story. She was carrying a tray, on which lay two bowls of venison (deer) casserole – one for Ryu and one for Sora.

"Dinner's ready," she smiled as she placed the tray on the chest of drawers. "Don't leave it too long, or it'll get cold!"

Zidane's eyes widened as soon as he saw the young woman enter the room. Her dark hair, her bright brown eyes, her slim waist…he liked her the moment that he saw her. Upon seeing the young thief's face, Sora instantly understood what Zidane was thinking and gave out a snort of laughter.

Thought Lenne completely missed this exchange, she did realise that Zidane was awake.

"He's woken up? Thank goodness!"

"Yeah, he's fine," Sora managed to say before turning his face away to hide his amused look.

"Shut up, you idiot, or you'll ruin my chances with her," Zidane retorted in a rather loud whisper.

Unfortunately for Zidane, Lenne heard what he said but to this, she only laughed. "I am so glad that you like me, Zidane!" she giggled. Zidane looked up at her – perhaps there was hope. However, his hope was shattered when Lenne went on. "But unfortunately, I'm twenty-five – and you look….I dunno….sixteen? Seventeen? You're a bit young for me, I'm afraid…….kid….."

Various muffled noises came from Sora's mouth. Zidane gave him a death glare. Although he liked Sora and mostly got on very well with him, it was very annoying how his spiky haired friend would always try to stop him from getting a girlfriend by mocking him to his face.

"Well, at least Ryu doesn't find it funny, or if he does, he's being very polite about it!" Zidane moaned.

Ryu was still standing at the side of the bed, holding Lenne's potion.

* * *

"Your friend is very amusing," Lenne told Sora later when she was preparing more venison to take to Zidane.

"You should see how he tries to win Nina," Sora chuckled. "The way that she responds to him makes him feel like a complete loser! And he _still_ tries to get her attention, even though every time she makes it clear that she doesn't want anything like that to do with him!"

This made Lenne laugh.

"So…..have you known these people for long?" Lenne asked, interested.

"Well…..I've known Nina for three years," Sora answered. "I…er…had to go and live with her and her father. We've been good friends ever since." He was careful not to hint that Nina was Princess of Wyndia – Lenne would not believe him and in any case, too much information could be dangerous.

"And the others?"

"Well, not very long….." _Damn!_ Sora thought angrily. _I can't tell her that Zidane's taking me to the Returners…she could be a spy…_

"Not very long?" Lenne asked. Sora turned his head to the floor. "…sorry, am I being rude?"

Sora shook his head. Then he remembered what Lenne said when he earlier asked her if she worked for the Empire… _"Why would I want to work with those tyrants?"_

_On the other hand, she could be lying…wait, I'm beginning to sound a bit like Ryu!_ What reason would he have not to trust Lenne? She seemed to be hostile to the Suverian Empire….and for some reason, she knew about the Keyblade Warriors…when she met Sora, she had recognised his Keyblade instantly. Perhaps he had better ask…

Lenne remained silent. "Is there anything wrong?" she finally asked, puzzled by Sora's behaviour.

"Wh…when you first met me, you recognised me as a Keyblade Warrior," Sora finally said, turning to Lenne.

Lenne lowered her head. "…..so….you know about that, then." She replied.

"Not a lot," Sora replied. "….I know….that the Empire are after me. The reason that we're here on this island, is because they attacked our ship. Zidane, he….he…was trying to take me somewhere safe. I am not sure where it is, though. I was also told by…um…someone…that there are two Keyblade Warriors. They open special doors that hold the world's secrets, whatever that means….." Sora had said all of this rather quickly – he could not find the right words, as he did not completely understand the situation himself. The woman, however, understood every word he said. He was not completely sure if he could trust Lenne, a complete stranger, but he might as well tell her what he knew in case she had something to reveal.

"…is that all you know?" Lenne asked quietly. Sora replied in the affirmative.

The young woman remained quiet for a few minutes. She wanted to tell Sora everything, in order to warn him. However, she had sworn not to tell _anybody_, even a Keyblade Warrior. On the other hand, she could tell from his eyes that Sora was desperate to know. His life was in danger. She would want to know had she been in his position.

"….what I can say is this," Lenne finally said. "Whatever you do, you must _not_ get yourself caught by the Empire. Lady Surenka has _very _dangerous motives for your capture. It would be wise for you to continue your journey as normal."

Sora was not really satisfied with this answer. "Why are you just giving me advice?" he questioned her, trying not to get angry. "You're hiding something, aren't you? What is it you aren't telling me?"

"If I could tell you Sora, I would," she added. "But there is a reason that I cannot say anymore. Hasn't Zidane said anything to you?"

"…I asked him once…he didn't say anything either. Nobody will tell me…"

Lenne looked at Sora with growing pity. For a moment, she was on the verge of pouring out all the information that she knew, but she stopped. So, she decided to give him some general advice instead – it probably was not very helpful advice, but it was the least that she could do.

"…I think that you should go with Zidane. I don't think that there is any reason not to trust him, especially if he was willing to risk being so badly injured just so that you wouldn't get captured, Sora. I think that he wants the best for you, as do Nina, Yuna and Ryu. Otherwise they wouldn't be taking such risks for you."

Lenne would say no more and in any case she had finished cooking Zidane's meal and had to take it upstairs.

* * *

Nina woke up probably less than a day after Zidane. She was also amazed that she was still alive, but rather annoyed that she could not fly until her wings were fixed. She constantly complained about pains in the roots of her feathers, though this was mainly because she was so used to the idea of being able to fly.

It took six more days until both Zidane and Nina were well enough to get out of bed properly, with the help of Lenne's healing potions and of many healing spells from all of Sora, Lenne, Eiko and Ryu (with his new White Wind spell) – if it were not for the potions and spells, it would have taken Nina and Zidane a great many weeks, perhaps, months, to recover fully.

Nina decided that Lenne and Eiko were very decent, good-natured people. Like the others, she was surprised at the fact that they lived on the island all alone and at Eiko's incredible intelligence (Eiko proved this to her by casting White Wind on her). However, nothing surprised her more than the amount of attention that Eiko paid to Zidane.

Little Eiko was always sitting by his bedside, asking him questions. How old he was, what profession he followed, what food he liked, whether he had any pets, where he lived, and even what his shoe size was! Zidane responded in a rather friendly manner – he did not mind young children and Eiko was quite a friendly girl. He would even tell her stories of his adventures as a thief, the buildings that he burgled and managed to get away without being discovered (or so he claimed).

"You know, that girl really likes you," Nina smirked after Eiko once left them to help Lenne with some cleaning. Both princess and thief were sitting on the carpet by the fireplace.

"Yeah, I guess so," Zidane shrugged. "They're really nice people. And Lenne…there is something about her…"

"Lenne is not interested in you," his friend replied, in pointly dismissive sort of way. "She likes you, but not _that_ way, Zidane. She said so already. Sora told me."

"Yeah, well at least Sora isn't here at the moment," Zidane sighed_For once, _he thought with a sense of relief,_ I can talk about my love life without hearing the phrase "Heheh" in the background._

Nina then gave a devilish grin.

"Hey, what the hell's up with you?" Zidane asked, seeing her smile.

Nina moved up to Zidane closely and whispered in his ear. "But I know someone who _does_ take an interest in you….."

Zidane thought about her words for a second and then laughed. "Wow, Nina….I _knew_ that you liked me, but I didn't realise that your feelings were _that_ strong!"

The moment he said that Nina returned his words with a slap in the face. "Not _me_, you twit! Since _when_ have I been attracted to you?"

"I wish…." Zidane mumbled, rubbing his face. He did not expect her to react that violently to his joke. "But…..I think I know what you mean, yes I do, stop looking at me like that! You're talking about Eiko, aren't you?"

"Yes, I am!" Nina exclaimed before she then calmed down and said, "She's spent more time with you than with me or any of the others…."

Zidane nodded, a little irritated. Although Eiko's crush on him did not stop Zidane from liking her as a friend, it was rather humiliating that the girl who likes you the most was not even halfway into her teens.

"You know…" Nina said rather thoughtfully. "I think it's quite cute……..you being her little fantasy crush…..perhaps I should contact my father and gain permission to arrange your wedding…."

"Now, Nina - "

"Perhaps in the courtyard of the castle! Or maybe on the sandy beaches near the city! And Sora could be your Best Man!"

"Man, you are really enjoying making fun of me, aren't you?" the thief moaned.

"Zidane and Eiko, sitting in a tree…" the princess began to sing (out of tune) before she had another 'idea'. "Oh, and I could arrange to send Eiko to a private school to continue her education – and _that's_ where you can have your honeymoon!"

She continued to tease Zidane about Eiko until Ryu came to sit down on the carpet (back in his sewn-up brown tunic) and keep warm by the fire, at which point Nina became bored of making fun of her friend and just wanted to relax by the fire until dinner.

* * *

Bosch wanted to search the island straight away. However, he was delayed by a call from the Empress, who wanted first to gather troops. He had protested, saying that he was a skilled soldier – he did not need more soldiers to help him and he was a good commander – he would have no trouble persuading his soldiers to follow him with his blinding charisma (to be exact, what _he_ thought was charisma). "You would be foolish to think that you would be able to obtain both the other Keyblade Warrior and the summoner that easily just because you are a very good fighter, General," the Empress warned him. "Don't forget the dragon – he is more powerful than you think, without that collar to enslave him." Bosch reluctantly accepted the Empress' advice, and stayed on the airship.

Only after a few days, the reinforcements summoned by the Empress finally made it to the island. General Bosch and Captain Ursula gave them their briefing.

"You have two objectives," Ursula said plainly. "The first is to capture a boy of fifteen, with brown spiky hair and a large silver key. The second is to capture a girl of around nineteen or so – short light brown hair, with bright green eyes."

"Make sure they come back _alive_…." Bosch added, threateningly.

He then walked up to Riku, his rapier drawn and pointed it against the boy's neck. He then whispered to him in a very menacing tone, "You are not needed at the moment."

"So I stay on the ship?" Riku asked coolly, despite the fact that the blade was just a hair's breadth from his throat.

Bosch nodded. "And I will give you these to make sure that we come back safely," he handed Riku a pair of binoculars before If you set one foot off the airship, then I will make life as miserable for you as possible…..okay?" he taunted, with an evil smirk across his face.

"Sure thing," the silver-haired youth shrugged, not really afraid of Bosch's rapier (he had his Keyblade ready if the general tried to do anything). He then turned towards the corridor that led to his cabin and left the scene.

Bosch scowled – how could that boy be so calm? He turned around to realise that the other soldiers, including Captain Ursula, were giving him queer looks. He sneered at them before putting his rapier back in his sheath and giving them the command to leave the airship in order to begin the search….

_To be continued…_

**Darn…..I wanted to put more stuff in the chapter, but it is too long already! So I had to leave it on a not very good cliffhanger. Hopefully exciting stuff will come up in the next chapter! That is, if I write it well enough to be exciting!**

**Eiko is from Final Fantasy IX. And so is 'I Want To Be Your Canary'. Lenne is from Final Fantasy X-2. **

**Thank you all following reviewers:**

**Dragonien and Shikamaru – I'm really sorry that there wasn't a fight scene in this chapter! But I am promising one VERY soon!**

**zornoid13 – Glad you liked it!**

**DrakeOx – also glad you liked my story!**


	12. 12 Return of the dragon

**Disclaimer: Breath of Fire belongs to Capcom. Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts belong to Square-Enix, but Kingdom Hearts also belongs to Disney. And I don't own scallops – scallops own themselves, as they are actually real shellfish (to those who don't know) and you can eat them as well (they are quite tasty) or any other fish mentioned – all fish own themselves. And I don't own any other of the fish mentioned in this chapter. I don't own Arc Arcanium or Stun Impact.**

**Now, for updates – as I have a LOT of work to do this year, I'll probably limit to how many chapters I do – it's probably going to be one per month (but I'm afraid the next one won't be until December or so). Yes, I know it will be a long wait for you, but my work is really, really important this year!**

**Okay, the reason Iraised the age rating, was because type of violence in this chapter. However, the fic is rated 'M' for violence and swearing. I have no reason to put any lemon in (besides, if I did, my dad would stop checking it for me) and as I said before, you can try but you are NEVER going to persuade me to put in any slash.**

Sora sat in the garden, watching the sun moving closer and closer touching the ocean, painting the sky with various colours – yellow, bright orange, pink and red….

It was always like this in Wyndia…and in Parela as well. Every evening in Parela, when they had the chance to, Sora and Kairi would come out of their houses and climb up to the hill to watch the sunset. In Wyndia, they would take a trip to the West Tower, which faced the sea. Therefore, the sunset gave him great comfort and made him feel more at home, even though he knew that he would not return home for a long time…

Ryu was sitting a few metres away from him, on a tree stump, swinging his legs two and fro and had not moved from his spot for the past hour.

"Hey, what's up?" Nina said from just behind Sora, making him jump. She then cackled for giving Sora a fright, even though it was not intentional.

"No need to jump on me like that, Nina!" Sora cried angrily.

"Hey, no need to overreact, Sora, it was an accident…" the girl shrugged before sitting down.

Sora was about to answer back, but decided that it was not worth fussing about. He tried to change the subject. "Nice sunset, isn't it?" he said, staring at the sea.

"It reminds me so much of home back in Wyndia," Nina replied in agreement, stretching her no longer damaged wings. "Sitting up in the West Tower, with Kairi and Riku….just to watch the dusk.."

As they continued to gaze at the descending sun, Sora noticed a rather long sandy beach at the bottom of the cliff. Standing on the beach, watching the tide travel in and out was a single lonely figure.

"Who's that I wonder?" he said aloud. Nina did not understand what he meant. Sora then pointed to the figure.

"I think it's Yuna," Nina answered. "She said that she was going for a walk down to the beach. Why don't we join her? We can get there by that pathway." She pointed to a path behind the garden fence.

"Okay, then," Sora smiled. It would not hurt to take a relaxing walk on the beach. "Ryu, do you want to come as well?"

It was a rather steep climb down to the beach, as the rocky path led down the great white cliffs, but it was nothing that Sora, Ryu and Nina could not manage comfortably. Nina had wings, of course, and Sora knew from experience, that many of the staircases in Wyndia were very steep – they were not very well-kept, as the Wyndians did not really need them to travel from floor to floor. Ryu did not seem to have a problem either, even though Sora offered to help guide him down.

Yuna was indeed at the bottom of the beach. She was bending over the now cold sand, picking up seashells. She looked up at Sora, Nina and Ryu once she heard their footsteps.

A shy smile came across her face. "I…didn't expect you guys to come here."

"Well, we saw you down at the beach and wanted to join you!" Nina replied. "I thought that you'd be lonely, so I thought we could keep you company!" Nina was one of those people who hated being on her own, so she did not really understand why some people wanted to spend 'quiet times' alone.

However, Yuna did not mind her solitude being interrupted. She had not made many close friends, apart from her fiancé and Nina's offer to keep her company had rather touched her.

"Oh, that's very kind of you!" Yuna exclaimed gratefully. "I wasn't doing anything interesting anyway, just collecting shells." She was already carrying a huge white shell that she had just picked up.

"…hey….that's a scallop shell," Sora said, recognising the large shell.

"Is it?" Yuna asked, interested. "You mean the one I picked up?"

"Yeah, my father was a fisherman. He went out in the fishing boats every day. He'd bring back lots of sealife – cod, bass, mackerel, mussels, crabs – and even scallops sometimes," Sora replied, rather proud of his knowledge of the ocean.

"I see…so I guess you know a lot about fish, Sora!" Yuna smiled, very intrigued by what the brown-haired boy was saying.

"I'll tell you sometime!" Sora said, grinning.

Although Ryu was not bored to tears of Sora's boasting about his wisdom of the sea or tired in that he wanted to go to bed, something told him that he should return to the cottage. He gazed over to the other side of the beach….

Lights….he could a group of flickering lights hundreds of yards ahead of him.

"Are you all right, Ryu?" Nina asked, seeing his worried face.

Ryu said nothing and pointed to the lights in the distance. They were coming closer and closer. Gradually, he started to hear the sound of footsteps, which began to get louder and louder.

"….is someone there?" Sora wondered aloud, also noticing the lights. He began to hear the faint sounds of marching.

"Let's get out of here!" Ryu whispered, in a rather orderly tone. "It's them!" There was some hint of slight fear in his voice.

Before they could react, however, a burst of flames appeared right in front of them. Nina screamed and fell back in shock – she was nearly hit by the flames.

"Are you all right, Nina?" Yuna was on her knees, checking to see if the princess was hurt.

"..y-yeah…" the princess answered, shaking slightly while being helped up by Sora and Yuna.

Another flash of flames appeared and Ryu had to jump out of the way. Unlike Nina, he did not fall to the ground.

"We have to go back to the cottage!" the boy cried, starting to panic. "If we don't, they'll catch us up!"

Sora looked ahead. The flickering lights were becoming clearer now……they had already taken shape in the form of torches. The faces were also becoming visible….dark purple suits with gold lining…a purple flag with a silver crown…

A third burst of flames appeared. This time, in front of Sora, who jumped sideways to avoid the fire.

"Come on, let's go!" Ryu shouted, about to run for his life. "Why are you staying here? You'll be captured!"

"….Well, I don't think there is any point in running away now, is there?" a familiar and evil voice was heard a few metres away from them.

The blond-haired general slowly stepped forward, his rapier already out.

"….General Bosch!" Nina shouted in shock.

Bosch frowned at the girl's words. "…….you know me already? _I_ certainly haven't met you before, princess. Well, I saw you on the little boat earlier with my binoculars, but…." He cleared his throat before continuing. "It's okay, your Highness, I am not here to hurt you this time…"

Sora gave Bosch a death-glare. "You're here for me and Yuna, right?" he growled.

The general turned to Sora, gave an evil smirk and laughed. "Why, you are a smart one, aren't you?" he cackled. "Well, I suppose that's why you have been trying to avoid us, isn't it?"

Sora gripped his silver Keyblade rather tightly. His dislike for the general was growing every second. Yuna stepped backwards. She had never met Bosch before, but within seconds she could already tell that he was not a man to be trusted.

Ryu did not run. Sora was still there – and the point of running away was in order that the brown-haired youth would not be captured by the Empire, not because Ryu was afraid of the soldiers.

* * *

Riku was standing by the window of the cockpit, holding Bosch's binoculars. He could see various shapes on the beach – Bosch and Ursula were at the front, talking to a group of people. One of those people, he could see that it was Sora – he recognised the spiky hair. And that silver stick glinting in the flames – that must have been his Keyblade…it looked vaguely shaped like a key to Riku. He zoomed in with the binoculars to check….yes, it was definitely a key and it was definitely Sora. _Well, at least he seems to be okay,_ the boy thought.

He could see them clearly from far away – Bosch had given him a really good pair of binoculars (which even had night vision). Although Riku could not hear what they were saying, he knew that they were trying to threaten Sora into cooperating with them. He was quite glad that he did not have to be there on the beach. _Saves me having to confront him for now,_ he thought.

The people who were with him – there was somebody small – a child – a child with….red eyes….that was odd. Was this perhaps the kid with red eyes that Bosch had told him about earlier? The dragon? There were also two young women. One of them had short brown hair and was carrying a staff. Perhaps she was the summoner that Bosch had been blabbering on about? The other girl…..she appeared to have large white wings and very long golden hair, which could be clearly seen in the light provided by the torches…..

"Nina?" Riku whispered, in surprise. "She's alive?"

* * *

Captain Ursula walked forward. Her gun was in her hand. Unlike Bosch, she did not have a sadistic grin on her face to give the impression that she was enjoying herself – because of course, she was not. All Ursula wanted was to get her mission done, so that she could go home to her family. The sooner the Keyblade Warrior and the summoner agreed to come with her, the sooner she could complete her task.

Ursula slowly drew out her gun and aimed it at the group. "Now," she said rather plainly. "We don't want to cause any trouble here. We don't want to hurt anyone. All we are here for is the Keyblade Warrior and the summoner's co-operation. If you agree to hand them over to us, then there should be as little bloodshed as possible."

"Ursula, you are spoiling my moment!" Bosch retorted, rather annoyed that a lowly captain had stepped in. "But…(turning to the group)…yes, she is right. If the both of you, the Keyblade Warrior and the summoner, value the lives of your friends, then I suggest that you come with us."

Sora stood there, uncertain what to do. He could not count how many soldiers there were…it was too dark to see. An attempt to fight their way through was impossible and escape would be difficult, if they did not know the number of soldiers.

"Sora, Yuna…..don't!" Ryu warned them, trying desperately to think of a way to get out without having to resort to, well……extreme methods.

Bosch turned his eye to the small boy. They seemed to have cleaned him up a little – they gave him some proper clothes – not left him in those rags that he wore back in Treno. The long and messy blue hair was tied back, although it still looked untidy. However, it was still easy to recognise the child by those familiar, angry-looking red eyes.

"Why, it is so good to see you again, Kainashiryu," he smirked. "…you look a little…different from before. Not as pathetic and weak as you really are."

Ryu ignored this insult – he had been called pathetic and weak many times – enough for him not to be affected.

"I suppose you don't want to go back to Treno," the general continued.

"You're not gonna lock him up again!" Sora shouted, memories of finding Ryu in that dungeon still fresh in his mind.

"Calm down, Keyblade Warrior," the general replied, relaxed. He turned to Ryu. "As it happens…we don't really…need you anymore…..so I'll make a deal." Bosch meant it. He could find other ways to complete his quest than to use that boy. However, he wanted to make sure that Kainashiryu would not interfere in Suveria's great mission.

However, Ryu stood his ground. He knew what the Empire was up to and there was no way that he was going to let them have their way. "Never," he snarled. "You can't surrender to them, Yuna, Sora. You mustn't-"

"What would it matter to you, dragon?" Bosch interrupted, annoyed that Ryu was trying to defy him. "I'm giving you a chance to go free. We have no use for you anymore."

Dragon? Nina caught that word. Was there a dragon about? She heard from Sora that he had seen the dragon on another beach on the island – carrying her in his claws.

"Excuse me, but you said 'dragon'…" she then said. "What do you mean? Is there a dragon around here?"

Bosch looked at the princess and, realising that she did not know, gave out a mocking laugh. "Hahahaha! I did not know that you guys could be so oblivious!" he cried. "You found the dragon in Treno and released him! You took him under your wing and he has been travelling with you for the past few days, yet you didn't know that he was actually a dragon? You thought that he was human? How ironic!"

Ryu lowered his head.

Sora began to understand what Bosch was saying. "…Y-you don't mean…." He started to blurt out, not knowing how to come to terms with what Bosch discovered.

"You don't mean that Ryu is a…."

"A dragon? Yes," Bosch answered, still smirking. "I know that it's hard to believe, considering how little he is."

Ryu continued to stare at his feet. There was no hiding his secret now.

Nina and Yuna were equally shocked and both found it very hard to believe. "Ryu? A dragon?" Yuna cried out. "That can't be true! He's just a child!"

"Oh, he's a child alright," the general said. "But not a human – you could say that he is a _baby_ dragon."

Sora turned to Ryu, whose eyes were still fixed on the ground. Despite the guilty look on the boy's face, Sora refused to believe what the general told him. It was impossible.

"Oh, why the long face, little dragon?" Bosch looked at Ryu with an evil grin. "I told you…..you can go free….we won't bother anymore….as long as you let the summoner and the Keyblade Warrior come with us and as long as you do not dare to ruin our plans…"

Ryu was not going to give in. "Don't you realise what will happen if you use Sora and Yuna to-"

He did not finish his sentence, as Bosch, not wanting the boy to ruin his plans, quickly walked up to Ryu and punched the boy in the chest.

"RYU!" Sora and Yuna shouted. Nina ran towards Ryu to help him, but the violent general pushed her out of the way before he grabbed the boy by the throat and held him up in the air.

"I said…we would leave you alone if you did not interfere!" he snarled, tightening his grip on the boy.

"Let-him-go!" Sora was standing right next to Bosch, his Keyblade aimed at the man's head. "Or you'll have _me_ to deal with!"

"I will let him go if you agree to our bargain. It's not that difficult," was the general's answer, eyes still fixed on Ryu, who was gasping for breath.

Sora lowered his head, still not moving his Keyblade away from the general's neck.

"Would you…..leave really leave him alone if I went with you? And my friends as well?" He felt that this was a bad idea, but what else could he do? Sora was not really thinking properly – he did not really want to surrender to the Empire, but the image of Bosch's hand around the poor child's neck was clear in his mind, even though he was not looking at them. And killing Bosch would not help him out of the situation – not with the large army that he brought with him.

"….I said 'don't', Sora," Ryu managed to manage to blurt out while still struggling to breathe.

The moment that Bosch heard Ryu's words, he hastily pulled his rapier out of his sheath and impaled it through the boy's neck.

* * *

He could not breathe. Not when that - sharp blade was blocking his passageway. His vision was disappearing.

"RYU!" He could hear Sora and Nina scream as Nina ran over to him.

Although his vision was blurry, he could just see Yuna's face turn pale with shock in the torch light. Ryu could taste the blood that was flowing out of his mouth. He closed his eyes, wishing the pain to go away….

But Ryu was not going to die and he knew it.

Slowly but gradually, the unbearable pain of the blade in his throat disappeared and a feeling of warmth started to flow through his body. His heart was pounding. He started to breathe more heavily and more quickly.

Ryu could feel his body….changing. Something started to….grow out of his back.

He gave out a cry (not one of pain, however). However, his voice sounded different – it was no longer that of a child's, but of a beast….

--

"R-Ryu…" Nina trembled. "…B-Bosch, you…"

The evil general ignored her – his eyes concentrated on the injured boy, and nothing else, a sadistic grin spread across his face. Yuna said nothing – her face just turned pale and her hands started to shake.

Sora dropped his Keyblade, just realising what the blond general had done – and he had _let_ it happen..

"Y-you scumbag!" he shouted nervously. "You bloodthirsty scumb-"

He stopped. Something had caught his eye….Ryu?

The boy had closed his eyes and suddenly started to glow. The glow became such a bright light that Sora, Nina and Yuna had to cover their eyes to stop themselves from being blinded.

Then Sora heard a roar that he recognised and he opened his eyes. What he saw with a rapier through its neck was not the blue-haired child. In his place was a familiar creature, with long white hair and horns sticking out of its back. The torso of a human but the legs of a red lizard.

Nina and Yuna gaped in shock at the dragon. The dragon opened its eyes and turned to Bosch. Within seconds, it pulled the rapier out of its throat – and with both hands, snapped it in half. Bosch stood there, his face completely white.

"…Ryu…is that you?" Sora said slowly to the dragon. The scarlet eyes which would always stare at you….both Ryu and the dragon had the exact same eyes. _Why didn't I think of this before? _Sora thought.

After disposing of the now broken and useless sword, Ryu the dragon turned to Bosch and moved his hands. Bosch was about to move out of the dragon's way, but he did not act quickly enough – as Ryu suddenly let out a column of energy right at the general. Bosch screamed as he was pushed back, knocking into a couple of guards.

Ryu turned his head to Sora. From what the brown-haired boy could tell, the dragon did not want to attack him. Sora then drew out his Keyblade and turned to Nina and Yuna.

"Well, come on, guys! Let's help him!" he cried. Yuna moved her hands to create her magical glyph traps, while Nina prepared a few spells.

"Why are you standing there, fools? GET THEM!" Bosch yelled with whatever strength he had left. He tried to get up, but found that he was too badly hurt.

"….you heard what the general said!" Captain Ursula said to the guards, uncertain whether this was a good idea. As it happened, she was right to think this once some of the soldiers charged at Ryu, he swiped at them with his claws, knocking them over in a spray of blood and broken pieces of armour.

Several of the soldiers who were not engaged Ryu started to charge at Sora. Some of them were caught by Yuna's fire trap and were rewarded with burns on their feet. However, the ones who did manage to get close to the boy were in for a surprise – Sora retaliated with a slash with his Keyblade, which emitted a white glow which caused a two second golden electrical barrier around the boy, knocking his enemies backwards, and stunning them. _Wow…I didn't know I could do that!_ Sora thought, impressed, moving away from the soldiers. Meanwhile, Ryu was busy using the same method as he did with Bosch when a group of soldiers ran at him – he pushed them back with his energy pillar.

Ursula stood near the rear, with her gun. "I-I think that we should retreat, sir!" she exclaimed to her superior.

"…N-No, Ursula…" the general replied weakly. "I…I…will not….lose to then rose in the air. He motioned his hands very slowly. Within seconds, another cluster of soldiers were caught by his new attack – he unleashed a huge rolling ball of thunder. Those who were unlucky enough to be caught by it were charred to crisp by a large ball of fire.

Sora, meanwhile, was busy defending himself with his Keyblade. He was busy driving soldiers who were trying to lunge at him with their swords (it was unusual for soldiers to bring guns with them unless it was a war). Just then, out of nowhere, he was distracted by yelling from Yuna. She was knocked over by five soldiers – and she did not even have a weapon to defend herself with. Her stick that she found in the woods was still at the cottage.

Sora quickly realised the seriousness of the girl's situation. He called to Nina (who floating in the air to avoid the soldiers), who turned to him. He gestured at Yuna and the princess nodded. Nina cast a Sever spell which sent some soldiers who were blocking Sora's way to Yuna. The young boy then rushed towards the men who were surrounding the girl and charged at them, swiping them with his Keyblade several times, while glowing a strange golden colour. In seconds, the soldiers were knocked over by Sora's slashing attack.

"Sir! We have to retreat, if we want to stay alive!" Ursula pleaded, clearly seeing that this was a battle she was not going to win. "These people….they're not normal!"

"No, Ursula! I can't let this ruin my reputation!" General Bosch yelled. "I am General Bosch.."

His inferior, however, ignored him and shouted, "TROOPS! RETURN TO THE AIRSHIP!"

The survivors, hearing the captain's call, turned for the airship and began to run for their lives. Some of them fell into Yuna's ice or fire traps and were injured to the point that they had to be carried to safety by their comrades (Seeing this, Yuna tried to remove some of her traps in order that she would not hurt any more men than she already had).

Ursula picked up Bosch, despite his protests, and ran for the ship. The soldiers willingly followed her, not wanting more of them to die by the hands of that mysterious flying demon or the boy with the silver key.

"…Sora…we actually _beat_ them?" Nina said in amazement, after the last of the soldiers had disappeared from their sight.

She was not given an answer. Looking at Sora, the princess realised that his attention was drawn to something else. Turning around, she saw the dragon high up in the air. She had never seen a dragon before – not even when one had carried her into the forest (obviously because she was unconscious at the time). Nina knew that she had a lot to say to Ryu.

Ryu looked down at his companions. _He's not gonna attack us, is he? _Sora wondered, looking up at him.

A long silence followed, and the dragon levitated a few metres higher….and flew towards the cottage.

_To be continued... _

**At last! I wanted to add the dragon part in the last chapter, but unfortunately, it would take up too much of the chapter.**

**Yeah, I knew that you all knew that Ryu was a dragon – it wasn't supposed to be a surprise, especially as Breath of Fire characters were in this fic and in almost every Breath of Fire game, Ryu is a dragon. So it was meant to be irony.**

**The funny move that Sora did when glowing a gold colour is based on Arc Arcanium, a special attack that he learns in Kingdom Hearts. Oh, and the blasting move that Sora performed – it's called 'Stun Impact' and it's only available in Kingdom Hearts: Final Mix – yeah, _I've_ got Final Mix, people! _And_ I have FF X-2 International as well. Neener-neener-neener!**

**Thanks to all reviewers! Hmmm…certain members of SeeD making an appearance? Well, I have a great many ideas on where to put certain characters, but these ideas gradually change, so I'm not making any promises!**


	13. On to Luca

**Disclaimer: I don't own BOF as it's owned by Capcom. FF belongs to Square-Enix. Kingdom Hearts belongs to Square-Enix and Disney. I am poor and I don't make money out of this. So please don't sue me.**

**No, this fanfic is not dead! Yes, I all know I promised December….but I have a good excuse! I've got a lot of exams and my dad's also working – I am never sure when is the right time that he would happily check my work! Really, really, sorry guys...**

Lenne ran out into the garden, her soul full of anxiety. She ran towards the forest.

_Where are they? _She thought. _They didn't come when I called them for dinner…_

"Hey, Lenne!" Zidane called from behind her. As she turned, he immediately saw the worried look on her face.

"H-have you seen the others anywhere?" Lenne asked him.

Zidane shook his head. "I thought they went out, but I couldn't join them cos Eiko was talking to me." He fell silent and after thinking for a few seconds, gave Lenne an equally worried face. "I-I heard lots of shouts – they could have been faint screams, I think…but I thought that it was the to think of it, it's not windy tonight.."

Just then, Lenne gasped and pointed to the edge of the cliff.

Ryu was standing at the cliff top. He was still in his dragon form, and had stopped to take a few seconds rest, before taking off again in order to avoid Sora and the others and so that nobody else would see him. Once he saw Lenne, he realised that he had made a mistake, floated into the air again and glided over the forest.

"Th-that's…a dragon!" Zidane shouted, shocked. He had never seen a dragon before – not many people had, but he knew that they existed and had always wanted to see one himself…

* * *

Ryu landed on the ground with a thud. He felt his claws becoming blunt, his tail, wings and horns shrinking….he was returning to normal…

Once he was the small blue-haired boy again, Ryu started to run…as fast as he could, ignoring the bracken and brambles that were in his path. He did not care where he went, as long as he did not run into Sora again. If Sora were to find him, he would most certainly be killed!

Eventually, once he came to a large rock, he could not run anymore. He was too tired – although he was a dragon, he had still lost a lot of blood from where Bosch had impaled him and there was a very sharp pain in his throat, which was making it difficult for him to breathe properly, especially while running.

Ryu bent over the rock, taking a few deep breaths. He felt light headed and weak.

"R-Ryu…..is that you?" Ryu heard Lenne's voice.

"…H-he didn't…..that dragon….that wasn't….was it?" Zidane's voice could also be heard. They had obviously seen him transform.

Ryu felt dizzy. His legs could no longer carry him, and he felt himself dropping to the ground…

* * *

"I can't believe it…" Sora said quietly, sitting on the carpet, recalling what had happened on the beach.

"It's not surprising really," Lenne replied, after finishing putting Ryu to bed.

"What do you mean 'not surprising?'" Sora asked, feeling that he was being called stupid for not knowing about Ryu's true origins.

"Well, not surprising for me," Lenne said. She then gave out a cry and put her hand in front of her mouth. "Sorry, I said too much."

"…y-you've seen a dragon before!" Nina exclaimed, realising what Lenne meant.

"Yeah, we have!" Eiko said. "We know one who-" Her 'sister' quickly put her hand in front of the young girl's mouth. Little Eiko realised her mistake of revealing her little secret and looked at Lenne apologetically.

"…we saw one before," Lenne quickly said. "So I know what a dragon looks like…did you know, they have many forms, apart from that demon-like one? They sometimes look like giant lizards…sometimes birds…but most of the time, they choose to look like humans."

"Clever…" Zidane said thoughtfully. "So anyone of us in the room could be a dragon without the rest of us knowing about it?"

Lenne shook her head at the thief's error. "Didn't you notice anything…unusual about Ryu? His eyes, for example?"

"They were red," Yuna answered.

"That is right…have you met anybody else in the world with eyes that colour? Well, what I'll tell you is this – the dragon I knew had deep and glaring eyes, just like that boy. What's more," the woman added. "it would explain his young talent for blue magic – dragons have a longer lifespan than us humans do." Eiko felt happy once she heard this – Ryu had an excuse to be good at blue magic and this made her feel special once more.

"He didn't have wings in his human form though," Eiko pointed out.

"Yeah, I noticed that too, Eiko," Lenne said to the purple-haired girl.

"Wings?" Sora did understand.

"..another trait that dragons have, whether in human form or not is their bat-like wings," Lenne explained. "…as you probably have noticed, Ryu doesn't have those…"

Sora thought for a second about this mystery and then it clicked. "…do you think that he might have lost them? I mean, he does have those big ugly cuts on his back which won't heal." It made more sense now.

"Yeah, I suppose you're right, Sora," Lenne replied in a sad tone.

"He lost them?" Zidane made a face of slight disgust before scratching his head. "….ouch…"

"But….how did that happen?" Nina asked, looking at the others. "The Empire, perhaps?"

"Who knows…" Yuna said quietly. "But I don't think that Ryu will be likely to tell us.."

He gradually opened his eyes. Light began to fill his vision. He heard voices.

"Do you think that he'll actually tell you, Sora?"

"I doubt it…but it's worth a try, Nina…"

"I suppose so.."

Ryu had been placed in Eiko's bed to heal. Although his neck was no longer bleeding, it now left a wound in the front and the back, which was fixable by a few Cure spells and a couple of Lenne's healing potions. Sora and Nina were both in the room, discussing about what to do with Ryu. It was still very difficult to believe that he was really the one who tried to attack Wyndia, but even so, Sora and Nina knew that it was not really Ryu's fault.

Upon realising that Ryu had started to stir, Sora ran over to his bedside, ready to perform a Cure. Nina was holding a couple of potions. The dragon child was surprised when Sora abruptly started performing healing chants on him – it was the last thing he expected Sora to do after finding out who he really was.

"That should do it," Sora murmured after he finished. "Nina has a few of Lenne's potions. You could do with some of those now."

Ryu nodded, still overcome with confusion. "Wh-what are you going to do with me?" he finally had the courage to ask.

"What we're gonna do is patch up that nasty injury on your neck," Nina said in a practical tone, "in case it starts bleeding again."

"And after that?" the dragon asked, not sure of his fate.

"Well, we've got to get out of here as soon as possible," Sora replied. "Lenne knows of a quick and safe way off this island – the soldiers are bound to come looking for us soon – they'll probably search the whole island. We'll need to take a boat, I think, during which, you can have try to sleep while we make it to land."

Ryu was still puzzled. "Y-you're not going to kill me?"

Sora more or less expected the boy to come up with this question. He looked up at Ryu and smiled uneasily. "Thought you'd ask me that!" He laughed in a nervous tone changing into a more serious voice. "And I'll tell you this – I know what you are now. I know that you're the creature that I met and fought in Wyndia. You can't hide that from me anymore."

Ryu made no answer, but stared at his left leg, which still had the scar that Sora gave him on that day.

"However," the brown haired boy continued, his tone becoming a little softer. "I know that it wasn't your fault, Ryu – how could it be? You were chained up in that dark little room, you had that little red collar thing around your neck that forced you to do whatever the Empire asked you! How could it be your fault? I'm not completely stupid!"

"And don't forget, Ryu," Nina added. "Remember when we ended up on this island? You saved me, didn't you? When I fell off that huge creature that Yuna had summoned, didn't you manage to catch me and carry me to safety?"

Ryu looked up at Nina and nodded, turning a little shade of pink.

"That's what I thought!" the princess exclaimed, giving a grateful smile. "I really appreciate what you did to me Ryu. There is no way that I'd want dead the person who saved my life!" And with that, she walked up to the child and gave him a hug. At first, Ryu was about to protest, but once Nina's arms were around him, he felt a warm and pleasant glow – and liked it.

* * *

Riku was in the cockpit when the soldiers came storming into the airship. He had expected a defeat as soon as the dragon started attacking the troops. He could go and help carry some of them to the cabins, but apart from that, there was little he could do, as he used black magic, not white. _Perhaps I'll help get some of them to the infirmary…there's nothing else I can do here, anyway…_

However, he stopped when Ursula came into the room, dragging the wounded and very outraged general with her.

"Sir, if we didn't run away, you would have died.." the captain tried to tell Bosch.

"Ursula….ugh…..this…is going to have an effect…..on the……Empress's……..opinion of me…" Bosch struggled to say.

Ursula sat him on a chair and performed a healing spell.

"I think that the Empress would rather that you lived," she then said afterwards. "I don't think that she would have sent more soldiers if she was not aware that she could lose one of her best men."

Bosch found that he could not comment on Ursula's words. Instead, after seeing Riku in the room, he decided to attack him instead. "Where were you, boy?" he growled.

Riku looked up at him in the same calm manner and replied, "I was here all the time, making sure you 'came back safely' just like you told me to. Well, apart the fact that from you guys obviously didn't return 'safely'."

"Well, then if you were supposed to make sure we came back, then why didn't you come to help us?" Bosch growled, annoyed.

Riku looked out of the window, pretending to think. "Well…the thing is, you _also_ told me that if I left the airship, you would make my life 'as miserable as possible', so….it was a little difficult for me to come to your rescue."

The general opened his mouth but no words came out. The kid was right. He could not argue with that. However, Bosch was not going to be defeated so easily. "W-well, you could have come and helped us, anyway!" he bluffed. "You're from Suveria, aren't you? Why couldn't you help your country? You know that it is a Suverian's duty to give his life for his officer?"

"Even if his annoying, sadistic and laughable officer has the charisma of a wet flannel?"

Bosch's face turned completely white. Nobody had ever dared to call him that before! What a cheek that boy was to degrade him in such a way!

"I think that you need a rest, General," Ursula said, trying to prevent a fight. "You are badly hurt, but a few hours sleep will do you good." And with that, she took Bosch by the arm and dragged him to the cabin, despite his protests.

_What a loser, _the boy thought to himself, smiling a little for the first time after his capture. He felt a little better now that Sora and Nina were still alive – so he did not have to worry about them anymore.

* * *

"Ryu, I'd like to ask you something," Sora told the blue-haired child once they were alone. "You were sent by the Empire to look for me, right?"

Ryu nodded, regarding Sora once again in suspicion. Sora gulped, realising that talking to him would be more difficult than he thought.

"I-I just wanted to know if you knew what they wanted with me, that's all," he tried to say in a calm tone. "Is there anything wrong with that?"

The dragon youth said nothing for a few seconds. "Wh…what would you do if you found out?" he finally asked, not taking his eyes off Sora. "Would you help them?"

"I…of course not!" Sora stammered, a little uncertain in his voice. He never really thought about helping the Empire – Zidane claimed that he wanted to take Sora to the island on which the Returners hid in order to protect him, but what if the thief was lying? What if the Empire wanted to protect him? Given the treatment that Ryu was subjected to, with creepy men such as Sir Argul and brutal leaders such as Bosch on their side, the brown-haired boy doubted that the Empire would want him to do something good. 

"Ryu, I won't be able to do anything unless I know something," Sora replied. "But.."

"Then it's best that you don't know," Ryu interrupted. "Then you won't go with them."

It was clear that Sora was not going to get an answer from the young dragon.

* * *

"This way!"

Lenne led the way through the now dark and sombre forest. She carried a torch with her, so that nobody should get lost. Sora, of course, sensed where she was going without the need of a torch. Zidane carried Ryu, as the small boy did not yet have enough strength to walk.

She stopped in front of the rock in front of which Ryu had collapsed a few hours earlier. It was an rectangular-shaped rock, appearing as if it were a table, or an altar. What was even stranger was that on top of the rock, on its surface, was a hole shaped rather as if it were a star.

"We don't leave the island very often," Eiko said. "But when we do, we take this route. It's easier than using a boat."

"You don't use a boat?" Zidane asked, baffled.

"Uh-huh!" Eiko replied, giving him a wink, which the thief ignored.

Lenne approached the rock, holding a green star-shaped gem in her right hand. She placed the gem into the hole and took three steps backwards.

The ground started to shake and to the amazement of everybody, excluding Eiko and Lenne, the rock moved backwards, revealing a hole in the ground with steps going down.

"Wow….a secret passage! Would make a good place for stolen goods!" was Zidane's comment.

Lenne started to climb down some steep wooden steps, beckoning the rest to follow her.

As they made their way down the steps, they found that there were hand-drawn pictures on the passage walls. Yuna stopped for a second to examine these drawings – the pictures of demon with huge horns that wielded fire, the huge serpent who caused great waves – they all seemed familiar to her.

"Yuna! What are you doing?"

Yuna heard Nina's voice calling her and she realised that her companions were some way further down the stairway.

Once at the bottom of the stairs, the seven found themselves in a large, dark room, with many more pictures. Lenne pointed to a gold circle with gold stars painted inside in the centre of the room. "Step in there, everyone," she ordered.

Her friends obeyed. "Uh…how is this supposed to get us out of here?" Sora asked. "It looks like a dead end."

Lenne laughed at the boy's lack of judgement. "Sora, you really should use your imagination!" Once she finished her sentence, the woman motioned her hands and began to chant.

Everything suddenly turned to white…

* * *

Sora opened his eyes. The light had faded, revealing a place which was so familiar to him… The small bed with the blue quilt, fixed to the wall right next to the door. The fireplace, on the other side of the room, opposite the bed, already lit. His collection of shells which he collected from the beach, sitting right on the edge of the mantelpiece. The whole room was exactly as he left it, three years ago…

_**Am I…home?**_

Sora stared at his old bedroom, bewildered. Was he really back? 

_He recognised the picture hanging on the wall, above the mantelpiece. That was the picture of the docks – the first picture he ever drew. _

_The fire, although it crackled and spread its room to the whole room, was a strange green colour. _

"_Sora…"_

_The boy jumped around, shocked to find a familiar face at his bedside. It was not his mother or his father – in fact, it was the person who he least expected to find. _

_She was still wearing her school uniform – her plain white cotton shirt and her short black skirt. Her auburn hair was fastened together by that ribbon that Nina gave her and she was still wearing that locket that Sora gave her. The fire seemed to light up her dark blue eyes._

"_K-Kairi?" Sora gulped. "Wh-what are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be in Treno?"_

_The girl did not answer, but then rose without warning. She walked slowly towards the door. After putting her hand on the handle, Kairi turned to Sora and held out her hand. _

"_Come, Sora," she called to him. _

* * *

"Sora..Sora!"

Nina shook him by the arm, her heart in a panic. Lenne, Zidane, Ryu, Yuna and Eiko stood around them, hovering with concern. Sora opened his eyes and abruptly sat up with a jerk. Where was he?

The images of Kairi and his old bedroom had vanished before his eyes. Instead, he found himself in a small, dark room which looked very similar to the room with the drawings on the wall. However, it was smaller and there was a door on the other side. Nina was sitting beside him, her face full of worry.

"….where am I?" was all the boy managed to say.

"Oh, Sora! You're awake at last!" the princess cried, overjoyed. "I thought you'd never wake up!"

_Wake up? _Sora wondered. _What does she mean? I was in my bedroom with Kairi, unless…_

"…was that….only a dream?" he thought aloud. _But it was so real…_

The brown-haired youth turned to his friends.

"Wh…what happened? Where are we?"

"We're in Luca," Lenne replied.

The others turned to her. "L-Luca?" Yuna asked, confusion on her face. "W-we're in Luca? How do you know?"

"That's where the teleporter took us," Eiko shrugged. "It takes us to Luca when we need to leave the island."

"T-teleporter!" Sora exclaimed, surprised. "Th-that circle thing is…a teleporter?" He realised that he was sitting in the middle of a large circle, not much different from the one on the island.

Lenne nodded. "Yeah, I know it's hard to believe that such magic exists, but it does…."

"Are you all right, Sora?" Nina then asked. "You fainted during the spell. You didn't hit your head, did you?"

"Teleport magic can make you feel a little dizzy if you're not used to it," Lenne said. "It happened to me the first time I used it as well…"

Sora could not think which was worse – travelling by vehicle and getting sick or travelling by magic and then falling unconscious.

* * *

Although Sora recovered quickly from his collapse, his head was still feeling a little sore so Zidane suggested that they take him somewhere quickly so that he could rest. They had to find somewhere to stop anyway, as it was still night.

"So, how do you know we're in Luca?" was Nina's question.

In response, Lenne approached the door and turned the handle. As it gradually opened, behind it, the others could see rows of tall white buildings, with their clean, washed walls reflecting the moonlight…

_To be continued…_

**Sorry for the long update! **

**By the way, to those in America and those who imported, how's KH II? I completed the Chinese version and loved it!**

**I'm afraid there won't be another update until at least July! I've got my A levels to do! But when I'm at university I might have a little more time! **


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